Ruff Patches
by Scarlett-Whitecross20
Summary: Chase’s recovery is still going on. But how well is he dealing with it? And how are his friends doing after their ordeal? Well the PUP Pals and Chase will begin to figure that out as they go, especially when new developments pop up to surprise them.
1. Recovery

PAW Patrol: Ruff Patches

Chapter one: Recovery

The sun peeked over the the horizon; just barely making its debut to the world, bringing back the daytime. The morning dew glistened off everything, shining like diamonds off of the whole world; creating an array of beauty everywhere one would look. The sun's rays reached out like fingers toward the iconic tower on a ridge lighting it, and the town below it, up completely. A brown lump on the ground snoozed on, despite the rousing light in the distance. Chase shifted his head away from the sunlight and gave a gentle sigh.

"Ah!" He stood up quickly; awake in seconds. Gazing around the yard, he found he was the only one there. _Where is everyone?_ He thought. He squinted due to his eyes not yet being accustomed to the bright light. The campsite they'd set up outside was still there so no one had cleaned up yet; likely to let him sleep a little longer. Chase stretched and a crack from his shoulder sent needle-point shocks down his spine; followed by a tender ache. The patches of missing fur on the back of his neck and shoulder showed up more clearly in the morning light. Just another mark to remind him of all he'd been through. Though it'd been a week or two since then, he couldn't help but relive it in small bursts; which came in many forms, believe it or not. Chase shook off the shock and slowly headed toward the Lookout. The pups and Ryder looked up when he entered; having heard the door slid open.

"Morning Chase; sleep good?" Marshall greeted brightly.

"Yeah, I guess so." Chase replied with a small smile, shrugging one shoulder. "Where'd you guys go? Everyone was gone when I woke up."

"We thought we'd let you rest a bit more." Rocky returned simply. "We figured since you're still recovering, you could use the extra sleep." _Figures_. Chase thought, internally smiling.

"Who's idea was it?" He asked innocently; genuinely curious to know the answer.

"Marshall's.." Rocky said. "And Ryder's." By now Chase was roaring with laughter inside; _totally called it!!_ His mind howled.

"Should've known." He giggled to his friends.

"So how do you feel today?" Marshall asked, stepping around behind him to inspect the German Shepard's wounds carefully.

"Ok I guess." Chase shrugged earnestly. "Still kinda hurts from time to time..-ahn!" He grunted and flinched as Marshall's paw found the tender spot still remaining on his shoulder.

"Easy, Chase." Marshall cautioned gently, glancing from the wound to him for a brief moment. Chase relaxed again, as Ryder came up to join them.

"Hey pups. How's it going over here?" He asked brightly, the boy having near completely recovered, from the heartache of his beloved German Shepard's seemingly forever-long absence.

"Pretty good, Ryder." Marshall reported happily. "Chase's wound seem to be healing well, but we may need to ice it or treat him for pain again. It's still kinda tender."

"Sure thing." Ryder smiled, nodding his head understandably. "Go ahead and do that." The pups smiled and Marshall bounded off with Chase slowly following behind.

_XXXX_

"Ahn!!" Chase grimaced and recoiled from the pressure put on his shoulder, as Marshall pulled the material tight.

"Hold still, Chase." Marshall told him through the material in his mouth. Laying it flat and smoothing it out, he finally finished.

"Thanks Marshall." Chase sighed, reaching a paw up to rub the newly wrapped shoulder.

"This athletic tape should help stabilize your shoulder, to ease the pain." The EMT pup stated tenderly. "And I think I'll give you a dissolvable pain killer to help too."

"Ok." Chase nodded, submitting to the pup's request. Marshall took out a small white tablet and dropped it into Chase's water bowl. And when it had fully dissolved, Chase began to drink.

"Ugh, yuck." Chase shuttered in disgust.

"I know, sorry about that." Marshall apologized unfortunately.

"It's ok." Chase shrugged loosely. "Hopefully soon, though, I won't have to do it anymore."

"Well you _did_ shake your shoulder loose." Marshall reminded him. "The beating you took from Rex really messed you up. It's a miracle he didn't _dislocate_ your shoulder."

"Yeah, I guess." Chase shrugged again..

_XXXX_

The two pups finally strode out of the Lookout, when they looked up and froze.

"Missed me?" The other German Shepard asked coolly.

"Chess!!" Chase cried, rushing forward toward his brother; to hug him tightly despite his tender shoulder.

"Haha, hey little brother." Chester chuckled, patting Chase's foreleg gently. Breaking apart, the younger German Shepard looked up beyond him. Frank, Billy, and Maggie Prescott stood there with Boomerang at their side.

"You're back!" Chase cried, leaving his brother to race over to them. Billy knelt down to accept the pup in his big arms, wrapping the pup in a tender embrace. "I'm so glad you're back." Chase said, bracing his paws up against the man's chest to look him in the eyes.

"Heh, yeah. Me too, Chase." The man said, ruffling the short hair on his head. Ryder and the PAW Patrol never tired of seeing the reunions between Chase and those he cared about(other than themselves of course); and this was no exception. Chase left Billy to place his paws up onto Boomerang to greet him with a lick on the cheek. Maggie keeled down to hug Chase close too.

"Great to be back to see you, Chase." Frank said, setting both hands on his cane. "But I think you'll like what we brought back with us." He turned to look back even further, and Chase peered around between them to see. Big brown eyes stared at him; almost shocked with what they were seeing. Chase's heart leaped at the familiarity of them, and the recognition they sparked.

"Chase?" The soft tender voice of the older German Shepard breathed, sounding just as shocked as they both felt.

"Mom!!!" The pup shifted to a new level of excitement, to a point beyond recognition for the pups and Ryder. Chase could hardly stand still, as he reached his mother with violent licks and tail wags. The dog shifted off we haunches to lick him gently too, her love for him gushing over the top with his. She took her pup in a large paw and hugged him close to her.

"I can't believe it!! I- You're here?!" Chase stammered, still completely flabbergasted by her presence.

"The Prescotts told me, we were moving." His mother told him. "But they never said that they'd found you here."

"We wanted to keep it a surprise for when you got here." Frank said.

"We knew you missed Chase just as much as _we_ did." Billy spoke up.

"And we knew how much you worried about him with all he'd been through as a pup." Maggie finished.

"Well you were right." The dog told them thankfully. "What a wonderful surprise." She reached a paw over, to pull Chase in and press the top of her head to his left shoulder. Chase grunted and tensed softly, and that's when she noticed the wrapping around his right shoulder.

"Chase what happened to you?" She said, instantly becoming concerned, as she lifted his right paw up slightly to inspect the wound.

"Oh..uh..well it's nothing." Chase shrugged dodging the question smoothly. "Right now, anyway." His mother's brow furrowed suspiciously.

"Are you sure about that?" She questioned gently.

"He's just recovering from an injury ma'am." Marshall piped up, taking a step toward them.

"These are the pups that Chase lives with now." Frank explained. "Everyone; this is Mariana. Chase's mother, as you can tell."

"Pleased to meet you all." Mariana greeted, respectfully, bowing her head slightly.

"Pleased to meet you too! I'm Marshall." The Dalmatian smiled brightly. "And this is Rubble, Rocky, Skye, and Zuma."

"And this is Ryder." Chase said, stepping up next to the boy. "He's the one who took me in when I got lost." Mariana looked up and smiled.

"Well then I thank you, young man." She said. "Because I can clearly see that you have taken such good care of him for all these years."

"No problem." Ryder grinned. "I did what I could. But unfortunately I couldn't figure out where he came from, so I chose to keep him as my own. At least I'd know he was safe that way."

"And we're _so_ glad you did." Frank told him, setting a firm hand on his shoulder. "Because you are everything we'd always wanted for Chase."

"I can't wait til you see the Lookout and get to know the pups!" Chase gushed excitedly. "You're gonna love them! Come on!" Chase sprinted off for the Lookout and the pups bounding after him. Ryder, and the others remaining, slowly following after them.

_XXXX_

"What a lovely place you have here." Mariana complimented, looking about the room on the lower level of the Lookout, thoughtfully admiring it all.

"Thank you." Ryder smiled. "Most of the technology in the Lookout is stuff I built. I've been improving it a lot over the years, and even coming up with more to make our rescues a little bit easier.

"Fascinating." The dog mused thoughtfully.

"And the Lookout isn't the only place where there's cool technology!" Chase grinned pleasurefully. "Come on!" He raced out of the Lookout and stopped in front of his pup-house at the bottom of the slide. "Wait here." He told her, then tore back into the Lookout. Making it to the top of the slide, he plunged down it; like he normally would, landing in his truck as it transformed under him. The engine roared to life, and he stood up to place his paws up onto the frame of the windshield.

"What do you think?" Chase asked proudly.

"It's... great." Mariana replied, forcing a smile. Chase beamed and hopped down to nuzzle up to her lovingly; then bounded off to put his truck away again.

"Everything ok, Ana." Billy whispered, kneeling down to her.

"I suppose..." the dog whispered back. "I guess I'm not exactly sure about the idea of Chase driving a motor-vehicle of his own; let alone one of _that_ size."

"Aw don't worry." Billy told her. "He's been doing this for years. He's good at what he does. Trust me."

"Yeah... ok." She hesitantly dropped her gaze to the two German Shepard's running off with the other pups, to play for a bit.

**Hi guys! Here's the new story I was talking about. Now a couple things to inform you:**

**For those of you who read my fic Mission PAW: Pups Save A Missing Pup, you know that I talked about a sequel being a huge possibility. And well... Ta Da!! Here it is!!**

**The title of the story, however, is a reference to my fic Ruff Times. But isn't connected to the this fic in any way other than the similarity of the titles. Therefore, this is _not_ a sequel to Ruff Times by any means. I do urge you, who haven't read PSAMP or RT, to go over as read them!! But, obviously, that's up to you! **

**Anyway, enjoy this first chapter, and hopefully the story in its entirety as it porgresses(cause I kinda don't have a written out plan for it yet. ;D). Thx!!!**


	2. Shadows

Chapter two: Shadows

"Chase!! You made it!!" Skyler barked, bounding up to run circles around him.

"For a second we weren't sure if you were coming." Kylie told him.

"And miss out on seeing my PUP Pals? No way!" The German Shepard replied humorously.

"You said it!!" Chase whipped around to find the golden owner of the familiar voice.

"Rayla?!?! W-what are you doing here?!" Chase asked in surprise.

"Same thing you are." The Golden Lab replied simply. "Visiting my PUP Pals." She strode further into the room to join the group.

"But what about Aaron?" Chase wondered curiously.

"He's at school." Rayla responded. "And his parents dropped me off to see you guys. Maybe one of these days, I'll ask Ryder if he can build me a ride of my own. I mean, yours is pretty sweet."

"Thanks." Chase beamed proudly. "Maybe I'll help you out with that when you decide."

"I might just take you up on that." Rayla smirked, half jokingly. They all laughed together, when the door suddenly opened again. The atmosphere shifted as soon as they saw Madge's face.

"Kylie, can we talk?" She asked softly, a haunted look in her eyes.

"Madge? What's going on?" Rayla asked. Chase and the Golden Lab exchanged quick glances, before looking her in the eyes. The unfortunate sadness in them was a terrifying sight.

"Please, can you tell her in here?" Chase wondered hopefully.

"We wanna know what's happening." Rayla begged lightly. Madge stared at them unsurely, then heavily sighed dropping her chin and closed her eyes.

"Alright.." She told them sadly, opening the door to come in, then softly closed it behind her; turning to face them once more. "But I'm afraid it's not good news." Kylie stepped forward to sit in the center of the circle of pups, all of them looking up at her with big worried eyes. "We found your old home.." Madge began slowly. "But your owner; Richard Bennett,.. wasn't the owner anymore... I'm so sorry honey-.. he-... he passed away a year ago from natural causes." The brown-spotted Cocker Spaniel's eyes glazed over, crystal streams falling down from them. She closed them tightly and dropped her head, as the tears streamed down her cheeks. Moments later her chest and shoulders began to heave; sobs forcing their way from the small pup, as she laid down to cover her face with her paws. Hearing this news the pups hearts shattered and went out to her, and when she began to cry the all piled in close for a group hug. The cocker's tears spreading amongst them, in soft whines and cries.

_XXXX_

Chase returned to the Lookout with his head hung and his ears sagging a bit; his eyes glued to the pavement.

"What's wrong, Chase?" The German Shepard recognized the voice to be Marshall's and looked up. The PAW Patrol, Prescotts, Mariana, Boomerang and Ryder stood waiting for him; concerned looks on their faces.

"I found out today that Kylie doesn't get to go home... ever." He managed to say.

"Oh Chase." Ryder knelt down to take the pup in his arms for a tender embrace. The PAW Patrol gathering in with them. "I'm so sorry." Ryder told him sensitively.

"Yeah, me too." Chase sniffed, rubbing his eyes a bit to conceal a single tear. "I'm kinda tired..." He went on flatly. "Can I go chill for a little bit."

"Sure." Ryder replied tenderly. Ryder released Chase and he slowly strode for the Lookout. His head still hung, as he watched the floor all the way into it. "Of corse you can." Ryder mumbled, as they watched him go. The group exchanged glances amongst themselves, then stared after him for a bit longer.

_XXXX_

_Darkness surrounded the pup; wrapping him in a blanket of empty space, one that was both comforting and disturbing at the same time. He hadn't a clue what was causing this uneasy feeling, but definitely desired to be rid of it; yet didn't know how to stop it. Looking around he saw nothing; he walked forward, watching to his left instead of in front and bumped into something. Looking to see what it was, he recognized the traditional style of the wooden object before him. Gazing up at it in a snap, he realized the fancy design of the ceiling; and the wooden paneling running along the bottom half of the light grayish-green walls. The expensive furniture and the ratty old pup bed and cage sent chilling pins and needles throughout his entire body; so much so that his paws were shaking. A snap made him glance toward it in a spilt second. At the door, a tall shaded figure stood holding a leathery stick in her hand; slapping the end of it into her palm to make the snapping sound. Then at her side two red eyes peered through at him and then lurched forward!!..._

Chase woke up with a start! His breaths turned to light breathless coughs, as he realized what had happened. He dropped his head with a deep sigh.

"It was just a dream!" He breathed to himself thankfully.

_XXXX_

"So now do you wanna tell me about how you got so hurt?" Mariana asked forwardly, when the Prescotts arrived to hang out that morning.

"Uh...I don't know what you're talking about." Chase replied loosely. "It wasn't _that_ bad." Then he shifted off his haunches to walk away.

"Chase?" Mariana pried sternly, gently stepping on the pup's tail to stop him in his tracks. As soon as she stopped him, he looked up at her serious expression.

"It's a long story." Chase decided, glancing at the floor. "You probably don't wanna hear it. It's _really_ not a big deal." The look his mother was giving him, told him that she didn't believe him.

"Come on, bro, you gotta tell her." Chester spoke up. Chase hesitated for another moment. He sighed deeply, dropping his head in defeat.

"Do you really wanna know?" He asked, peering up at her sheepishly; and Mariana nodded.

"*sigh* okay..." Chase sighed again, rolling his eyes reluctantly...

_XXXX_

Chase regretted telling her the story even more, after telling her everything.

"And you call that nothing?!" Mariana clamored.

"Well.. it's nothing _now_." Chase recovered quickly. "I'm safe and I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

"Hardly the case." His mother shot back. "Let me see it."

"It really _is_ ok." Chase insisted, as Billy knelt down to position Chase for the older dog to see the healing wounds on his neck; even pulling his collar up a bit to get a better look. Marshall came to peer around them at it as well, a curious look crossing his face.

"Maybe not, Chase." Marshall said, coming closer.

"What? Why?" Chase asked in confusion, as Billy released him and stood up.

"It looks like your collar is rubbing against the wound." The Dalmatian replied. "It's rubbing it raw."

"Doesn't that hurt?" Rocky asked, taking a look himself.

"Maybe a little." Chase shrugged, despite the burning sensation that resulted.

"Looks like we'll need to wrap it up again." Marshall said.

"Aw man." Chase cursed sadly, dropping his head again.

_XXXX_

"Ow!" Marshall tugged a bit harder. "Ow!" Chase repeated, trying to move away from him.

"I'm sorry, ok." Marshall sighed through the material in his mouth. "But it's gotta be tight, so it'll actually give you the support you need." Chase grimaced and stepped his paw toward the Dalmatian.

"I know." He sighed, his eyes still settled on the floor. Marshall pulled slightly more, chase flinching once more, as he set it in place; bringing a paw up to hold it there so he could secure it.

"So.. how long ago was..this..little.. adventure of yours, Chase?" Mariana asked, as Marshall finally finished up.

"A couple weeks ago." Chase replied flatly. "I was only gone for a short time. But, boy, did it feel like forever!"

"I bet it did." Rocky guessed understandingly.

"But at least you're home and safe." Rubble pointed out brightly.

"I heard that Mrs. CorDan was placed in jail and is going to be sentenced to prison time for animal cruelty and illegal operations; and possibly a few other charges as well." Chester said. "But no one knows for how long."

"Let's hope it's for a long, _long_ time." Chase decided, shivering at the memories.

**Hi guys!! Been a while, but here's the next chapter!!! So excited for this story! I have sort of an idea of where it's going. And I can't wait to see what you guys think of it.. enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	3. Light In The Dark?

Chapter three: Light In The Dark?

"I hope we never hear from her ever again." Chase sneered, clearly becoming upset just thinking about it.

"Now Chase, calm down." Frank soothed, talking the German Shepard down again. "She'll get what she deserves soon enough... but that's not our concern. _Our_ concern is on you, and your recovery; especially after all you went through.. Nothing else matters right now." Chase huffed and walked his paws down to lay his head down on them.

_XXXX_

Chase lay where he was; eyes gently closed. He yawned a gasping breath in his sleep and shifted positions slightly. Everyone turned to look at him from where they were a short distance away, then turned back to one another.

"Is he really ok?" Mariana wondered aloud, concern clearly ringing in her tone.

"He _was_ poorly treated by Mrs. CorDan." Ryder sighed. "But I think he's still just recovering from lack of good rest... he probably didn't get much while he was stuck there. I've learned that Chase doesn't sleep very well, in places he doesn't feel safe in."

"Sounds like Chase to me." Billy agreed. "One time when he was injured during training he had to stay at the academy's medical unit overnight for observation... I remember he didn't do so well in training that day. He was kinda tired and couldn't really focus very well. I had to asked my sergeant to give him an extra break."

"Physical wounds can also encourage sleepiness as well." Maggie put in. "He was hurt pretty bad; even though he won't admit it."

"That's what I was afraid of." Mariana sighed, dropping her gaze into her paws.

"Hey.. don't worry." Billy encouraged her, placing a hand on her back. "Chase is a tough pup, and if he survived a rough puppyhood; I'd like to believe that he can survive anything."

"So.. how bad _was_ it, exactly?" Marshall asked, half wondering if he wanted to know.

"Pretty bad.. unfortunately." Billy sighed. "Chase wasn't supposed to live past his first few days... but somehow he kept fighting..."

_Billy stared aimlessly into the small clear box... Maggie knelt down to peer over his shoulder; placing one hand on her brother's shoulder, and the other on the small stand next to the glassy box._

_"He's so tiny." She breathed, unable to break her gaze off the tiny ball of fur. The small pup was barely recognizable as such, with all the tubes and IV's attached to him._

_"The doctors say he's not gonna make it." Billy mumbled hollowly, as if only half there._

_"I know.." Maggie sighed, lowering her gaze solemnly. The click of a cane on the floor tapped over to them._

_"How's he doing?" Frank asked, setting his other hand on the cane with the first one. Billy simply heaved another deep sigh, staring on still. Maggie placed her other hand on his arm and looked back at her father, gently shaking her head._

_"I figured as much." Frank breathed sadly, adjusting his grip on his cane. "..Well, at least he'll go, knowing he was loved." Billy swallow hard, a single tear snuck it's way down his cheek; which he immediately brushed away to avoid anyone seeing it. Maggie squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, before getting up to leave. She stood before her father to tightly hug him, and they both quietly left together. Billy almost didn't even hear the door close when they left..._

_XXXX_

_The gentle glow of the incubator, and the barely audible blips of the monitors hardly reassured him, as he stood against the wall. Waiting minute after agonizing minute for the dreaded moment to come. After another eternity, he pushed himself off the wall with his foot and approached the small glass box. He knelt down to peer in through the glass at the small, motionless pup._

_"Come on, pup.." Billy softly begged, pressing his hands to the glass. "Fight.. I know you're tougher than this.. Just... don't give up yet. Cause... I'm not ready to give up on you." Silence was all that returned, as the state of the pup remained the same. Billy sighed and stood up. Turning his back, he headed for the door. Suddenly a noise stopped him, and he thought he was hearing things. He looked back, but nothing seemed to be there; the pup was still just as silent as it had been. Billy then turned to press his back to the wall, he slowly slid down to sit on the floor.. And, after sitting there for another short while, began to nod off to sleep..._

"We were sure Chase was a goner." Billy explained simply. "But the next morning was the craziest day of our lives..."

_Another noise roused him from sleep, and he **really** thought he was hearing things this time. But when it persisted, and even got louder, he realized he was not dreaming. Shifting himself forward, he detected movement. The whimper, he realized, was the tiny puppy cries of the glass-enclosed pup. At this time Maggie cracked the door open, Frank right behind her. And, seeing the movement as well, swung it open to come in quickly._

_"He's still alive?!" She gasped, dropping down next to the incubator on astonishment._

_"This is the first sound we heard from him since he was born." Billy stated; just as amazed at they._

_"Maybe he's a fighter after all." Frank mused thoughtfully. And the pup's cries echoed through the air as the memory began to fade away..._

"So why was Chase so sick?!" Marshall cried worriedly.

"Well he was younger and smaller than the rest of the pups. And he seemed to have been a little underdeveloped when he was born." Frank explained. "He was only about a week old, when we really noticed something was wrong with him."

"His immune system wasn't prepared to fight the infection." Billy told them, recalling the memory like it was yesterday. "And the pups were all born a bit early. Those two things, coupled with Chase being the smallest and weakest of the five... made for the perfect storm that day. They weren't expecting him to live because of it."

"And it was an uphill battle from there." Maggie put in, gently scratching Boomerang's fluffy coat.

"But then... why isn't he _still_ that sick?" Rocky wondered.

"Cause he eventually grew out of it." Billy replied. "Otherwise he wouldn't have been accepted into the K-9 program."

"Chase slowly improved." Frank continued, stroking Mariana's shaggy neck. "And it took him a couple years to get there. But once he overcame it.. he seemed to have no problems at all."

"Chase was perfectly healthy when he came here." Ryder said, thinking back now. "..Other than being a little dirty, tired, and hungry from his trip in that box. Katie checked him out real quick, when I took him down to her for a bath."

"And now he's the strongest we've ever seen him." Billy said, as they all looked back at him once more. "He's really grown up."

"That he has." Frank agreed proudly.

_XXXX_

Chase's ear twitched, but no one saw... none could see him from outside the Lookout. And likely couldn't hear him either, as he lightly began to whine...

_The German Shepard wandered aimlessly through dark hallways, which only lead to more like it. Possessing no sense of direction in this place, he simply continued the aimless wandering; only feeling like he was going deeper and deeper into being lost. The darkened shadows and shapes had him on high alert and the slow click of something hard on the wood floor faded in; as if it were slowly coming toward him. And the louder it got, the more his pace quickened; and the more panicked he became. Soon he was flying through the halls; tearing away from the horrible clap of the hard, wooden sound. Terrified to look back and he kept on running... 'what is coming after me!?!?' he thought to himself. He had begun to pant by now, and his breaths becoming more and more audible as he went. Suddenly the halls faded into complete darkness, and he found he couldn't run anymore; like he was suspended in the air where he was. Two large eyes, glowing an off yellow, peeled open; glaring at him fiercely before giant toothy jaws snapped open to swallow him in more darkness!!..._

"No!" Chase shot up where he was. He glanced about; soon realizing where he was. He sighed deeply and lowered his head thankfully. Testing his shoulder again, he found that the tenderness was still there. Voices rang out and he looked up toward the door.

**Hey, what's up everybody!! Been a little while, but I finally got the next chapter out! Can't wait to see what you guys think. The nightmare at the end was kinda fun to write, as was the flashback as well. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on this chapter and I'll see you next time! Enjoy!! Thx!!!**


	4. Changes

Chapter four: Changes

"Ready Rocky?!" Skye called from on top of the stack of pups.

"Locked and loaded, Skye!" The green recycling pup replied, plopping a fresh meatball into his small homemade catapult.

"Launch!" The Cockapoo called, to which the mixed breed responded with hurtling the meatball through the air. Skye hopped up to catch the meatball, backflipping down onto the trampoline in front of them; landing on her paws in the grass.

"Yay!!" The pup cheered excitedly, backflipping once more. Everyone laughed, as the Prescotts and Ryder came forward a bit more; when a familiar yawn behind them, got their attention.

"Chase! You're awake!" Marshall cried, walking out from under the stack; turning it into a pile of pups. Chase rubbed his eye as Marshall reached him. "Are you ok?" The Dalmatian asked him, secretly concerned(but only slightly).

"Yeah.." The German responded simply, still looking a little sleepy. "So what'you guys doing?"

"We're showing our new friends some of our fun tricks." Skye gushed. "You wanna join us?"

"I would.. but my shoulder doesn't feel quite ready yet." Chase sighed, flexing it slightly.

"Oh... right. Sorry." Skye remembered, guiltily.

"It's ok." Chase said, only slightly limping toward Boomerang and Mariana, who lay on their sides facing one another. He nestled in between the two of them, laying down with them. "I'll sit and watch for a while." Skye and the rest of the PAW Patrol just gave him an odd look. "I don't mind at all." Chase reinforced gently.

"Well... *sigh* ok. If you say so, Chase." Skye said, finally giving in. The pups headed off to play again, and Chase set his head down onto his paws; with a light sigh.

"Don't you wish you were out there with them?" Boomerang asked, looking down on the pup curiously. Chase's eyes widened slightly and he lifted his head to look him in the eyes.

"Of course I do, why?" He asked, almost surprised that he'd asked.

"Well it just seems like you don't seem as upset about not being able to play with your friends as you could be." The Australian Shepard observed thoughtfully. _He's good_. Chase thought to himself.

"I guess I'm still kinda sad for Kylie." The young German Shepard admitted. "I mean.. after we all escaped from Mrs. CorDan's mansion, I was able to be sent home right away... But Kylie-.. she-.. she doesn't _ever_ get to go home."

"I know.. my heart breaks for her too." Boomerang sighed grimly, lowering his gaze momentarily. "But she'll get through it... I know she will.. Because she has a strong friend like you to be there for her."

"Not _just_ me." Chase returned openly. "The rest of the Pals are there too."

"Yes, but _you_ gave them their strength." Boomerang reminded him, his icy-blue eyes gentle and calm. "Remember, it was _you_ who took charge and tried to inspire everyone to stand up to Mrs. CorDan, and it was _you_, who stood up for Kylie and fought Rex to defend her honor for her. And above all else, you escaped over the wall of the mansion grounds, which might I add, _almost_ worked; and also took a major beating from Rex thereafter. And you did it _all_ for them." Chase began to think about this, taking in what he'd just said. "You see young one;... your strength.. gave _them_ the strength to overcome an obstacle. And now they know is they are stronger than they thought... because of you."

"But what did I do? I just did what I thought was right." Chase wondered innocently.

"You did what you thought was right.." Boomerang repeated. "And you inspired the others around you that they could too."

"I did?" Chase asked, a bit unsure.

"When they took you inside they had us all in cages outside." Boomerang recalled. "Who knows what they planned to do to us.. But after you were gone, Raul's and the others decided they couldn't sit around and wait anymore; and started to take action."

"What did they do?" Chase asked in surprise.

"They managed to overcome the cages. Their motivation led them to discover that the cages weren't secured down and we could escape by throwing it off of us. And they had that motivation because of you." The Australian Shepard's warm smile further demonstrated the truth of this fact. "Because you encouraged them to keep fighting and never give up.. they began to believe again. Believe that they could do it after all. You are the one they have to thank for that."

"Well.. I guess you may be right." Chase realized finally, smiling up at him. Boomerang returned a tender one.

"Indeed, and I believe that even though they don't always say it... they know it's true." The older dog finished simply.

_XXXX_

"Chase!!" Skyler never tired of being the first to ecstatically welcome the German Shepard to their room. "Guess what, guess what, guess what?!?!" She cried bounding around him once again.

"Ok, ok, just calm down and tell me already." Chase giggled, feeling dizzy just watching her.

"Oh right!" The sheepdog realized stopping short to look at him with thoughtful blue eyes. "Chase!! I have.. to best news.. ever!!!"

"Ok, what is it?" Chase smiled calmly. The Border Collie crouched down, peered around at her friends excitedly; clearly bursting at the seems to tell him. "I'm getting adopted!!" She finally sang, as Alex popped up from a pile of pillows behind her.

"What? Really?! By who?!" Chase cried excitement beginning to grow in him now too.

"Me!" Alex said, gesturing to himself. "Grandpa Porter decided I was ready for a pup of my own."

"That's great you guys!" Chase smiled happily, his tail beginning to wag pleaseurefully.

"-I know!!" Skyler gushed, lurching forward to hug him abruptly.

"Ahh, Sky- you're squeezing me!- can't breathe!" Chase cried unable to wriggle free from her embrace.

"Oh right! Sorry!" The sheepdog cried, releasing him quickly and gently stroking his wrapped up shoulder. Chase hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"How's Kylie?" He asked cautiously, afraid to know the answer. The pups' smiles faded, and they glanced over their shoulders at the little spotted figure laying in the shadow of the indoor playset, on a pup bed facing away from them.

"Not good, I'm afraid." Tiny sighed lightly. Chase's expression fell as well, an unfortunate sting in his heart piercing his chest.

"Well.. maybe this'll help.." Chase turned toward the door and nodded. When he did, Billy pushed the door open and Boomerang strode in.

"Boomerang!" The pups cried; the cocker not even looking up.

"Hey, wait for me!!" Rayla gasped; diving through the doorway into the room, before it closed. When she straightened up again, she, too, was surprised to see the Australian Shepard standing there. "Boomerang! You're back!!" She gasped, drawing closer. "How's life been with the Prescotts?"

"Not too bad; believe it or not." Boomerang returned, with a smile and a shrug.

"Glad to hear it!" The Golden Lab smiled. "Really. You deserve a good place to retire."

"And I'm very grateful." Boomerang beamed. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about you pups, and.. especially Kylie right now." The older dog's smile decimated, as they all looked to the Cocker Spaniel beyond them; still laying as she was.

"Maybe you can get through to her, somehow." Chase spoke up softly. "Maybe you could talk to her and help her feel better?" He peered up at the Australian Shepard cautiously; as though afraid he'd say no. Boomerang stood there a moment in thought, before making a slow approach. Rayla strode up closer to Chase.

"You think it'll work?" She asked him unsurely, looking at him quizzically.

"I hope so." Chase sighed.

"Well.. I'm sure he can do it." Tiny decided, a hint of doubt still twinging in his tone.

"I hope he can too." Chase sighed quietly, lowering his gaze directly down. The pups watched the conversation progress, tears were shed, and points were made. And though they couldn't hear what they were discussing,.. they could tell when they were finishing, as Kylie rubbed her tired, tear-filled eyes. And Boomerang laid his big gentle paw over her lovingly; as the pup willingly snuggled up to him in return, hugging him close to her in comfort and gratitude. Chase realized that he'd been holding his breath, and finally released it in seeing this; hoping no one would hear. After a short time, Boomerang wandered back over to them.

"She'll need a little time, but I think she'll be ok." The Australian Shepard told them sensitively. "But she will require our support, if she is going to find a _new_ home." The pups all nodded intently, a feeling of determination to help coming upon them rather quickly. "As for tonight though.." Boomerang ventured once more. "She'll probably want some company to sleep for the night."

"I think we can handle that." Skyler nodded keenly; glancing at the others who nodded slightly in agreement.

"I wish I could stay, but I can't." Chase sighed unfortunately. "I have to be getting home, we have friends over and I don't wanna miss anything. But I'll come back when I can!"

"That's alright, Chase." Ci Ci spoke up, wearing a genuinely understanding look on her face. "We'll handle this." Chase shot her a smile and he and Boomerang set off for the Lookout. As Chase walked along, he couldn't help but recall the change in Ci Ci since she was rescued from the CorDan mansion. Then he realized how much they _all_ had changed since then. They all seemed much happier, which was to be expected; but of course their situation was still not entirely happy, given the circumstances that stared them in the face. The ache in his shoulder was a sore reminder of everything he'd experienced and knew it would stick with him forever; even after he was healed.. if he ever did.

"Chase, you alright?" The German Shepard was immediately ripped from his thoughts when Boomerang's voice called him out.

"Oh..um.. yeah." Chase sighed rather smoothly. "Just thinking about Kylie again, that's all. What she's going through is awful." He walked with his head hung a bit, as he was also noticeably limping again.

"Aw don't worry about her." The older dog shrugged, watching up ahead of them again. "She's struggling, but she has you and the other pups to help her through it. And there's nothing better than that." Chase just dropped his gaze and kept walking, becoming immersed in his thoughts once more.

_XXXX_

"Chase, you're back!!" Marshall cried bounding up to his friend. "We were just gonna play Pup Pup Boogie; you wanna join?" The pups bubbly attitude burst from him in the unwavering excitement that he felt.

"Sorry Marshall." Chase sighed flatly, beginning to limp heavily past him. "I kinda don't feel up to it tonight." Marshall's smile faded into concern, as he turned to watch him go.

"E-excuse me, i-is this the PAW Patrol Lookout?" Chase, Marshall, and Boomerang stopped and turned around, as everyone else arrived find the origin of the strange voice. Only to find a strange, young man standing there in the main drive. He had dark curly hair and emerald green eyes; his tan skin fit well with these features as the perfect blend of colors. The quality of his clothing was quite expensive, made plain by just the look of the material used.

"I don't mean to intrude on your evening." The stranger stated insecurely. "But I have come all this way for an important purpose. One that I would be ashamed to return home without doing."

Chase turned around to face the man, thinking about approaching him; when he felt Chester step in next to him, a hostile distrust of the strange man infectiously emanating from his brother's mere demeanor. The man squirmed awkwardly, as if feeling the emotions of everyone there; although most of him were not sure _what_ to feel. Chase felt this strange nagging feeling of continuity about this man's overall appearance, from somewhere beyond what his mind could reach at the moment. A strange sense of slight familiarity drew his eyes to the overall style of his attire, but he couldn't quite place it. Where did he come from? And what did he want? And what was so important for him to come all this way to talk to complete strangers whom he'd never seen before? Had he, himself, missed that much while he was gone? If so what had he missed? And what does this man have to do with it? All these questions ran through his head as everyone stared aimlessly at this lone stranger that stood in their midst; pondering how to respond.

**Hi guys!! Finally got another chapter done!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it!! This story has been so much fun to write already, even though I'm only in chapter four(actually five, which is not quite finished yet). And I have already planned out the storyline, leaving some room to discovery write as well. Hope you guys enjoy what I come up with, and I'll see you next time! Thx!!!**


	5. Apology?

Chapter five: Apology?

"I beg your pardon, young man, but.. who are you?" Frank asked quite politely.

"Please, I beg of you to hear me out." The man replied. "I'm looking for a pup named Chase. Is he here?" The German in blue froze at the mention of his own name, as though he'd just been splashed with ice water. But nonetheless he approached him until he stood at the front of his entire group of friends and family, ending up between Marshall and Rocky. The man's green eyes lit up at the sight of the young German Shepard, the ragged bandages ravaged by the events of the day making it look worse than it was. Chase was both surprised and concerned by the look of regret and guilt in the stranger's eyes. He sat down before him simply, silently waiting to see what he'd do next. To his, and everyone's, surprise the man dropped to his knees, his breaths becoming unsteady to show that he was upset.

"Please.. I beg your forgiveness." The man cried sadly. "My name is Malachi CorDan.. and I am completely horrified by what my mother; Vignette, has done to you.." At hearing this Chase lit up and slowly began to step back, and Marshall and Rocky prepared for him to run away scared. But this didn't happen, instead he stopped. When hearing Malachi force back a sob; tightening his jaw to keep from crying. When Chase heard this he couldn't help but stare for a moment; the look of complete and utter remorse flooded from his eyes. He shockingly noticed a patch of blackness staining his face with a shadow, which he could see was not one of evil; but of sorrow. In that moment time froze; the look in the man's eyes pulling him in, as the memories of the mansion came flooding back to him. Yet as he stared, he could feel a withdrawal happening; from what, though, he couldn't quite pinpoint in the moment. Malachi broke his gaze to drop his chin; closing his eyes firmly in shame. His hands lay at the edge of his lap hanging off his knees to the ground. They clasped nothing but air; until a warm paw came to touch them tenderly. Malachi look up quickly as a tear snuck down his cheek; stunned to see that Chase had come forward to place a comforting paw on his hands; a genuine look of anything but anger, fear or resentment displayed on his face. Everyone watching was also surprised by this, but a few of them felt nothing else but pride just the same.

Malachi gave a thankful, gasping sigh; dropping his head to the ground so his back was exposed. Chase hopped his front paws up on to his back and laid his head down in a tender hug, as Malachi finally began to cry all his emotions out in front of the whole group.

_XXXX_

"I apologize for my earlier meltdown." Malachi sighed sheepishly, as Ryder handed him a cup of water to drink.

"No worries." Ryder smiled. "We understand how bad you feel for what happened to Chase."

"I'm just amazed that he doesn't resent me because of who I am." Malachi admitted. "I know I had nothing to do with what happened.. but.. somehow I feel just as much at fault for it."

"You had no control over anything your mother did or didn't do, Malachi." Frank assured him intently. "Vignette did what she wanted to do regardless of what others around her thought or felt. You couldn't have known if you wanted to."

"But I should have,.. ya know?" The young man protested. "I mean, she's my mother. How could I have let this go on for so long? If I'd have known I would've done something!"

"I'm sure you would have." Billy stated understandingly. "But not even your father knew of it… he said so himself."

"He didn't?" Malachi realized. And the Prescotts all nodded, while Maggie continued to stroke Chase's back; as the pup continued to snooze away on her lap. Malachi then dropped his gaze into his lap, processing this information slowly.

"I understand you feel guilty for what Chase went through." Frank continued. "But you must know that nothing you would've done could've prevented it."

"How can you say that?" Malachi replied hurtfully, staring up at him again.

"Because I've known your mother for years…" The old man returned simply. "And I know that she'll do anything to get her way.. I didn't realize just how far she was willing to go, until she took Chase." They all looked to the sleeping pup once more, the German Shepherd remaining under his deep slumber as if nothing was happening.

"He's resilient.." Frank went on again. "He'll heal from his wounds and go back to being as normal as he can be, given the circumstances."

"Exactly." Ryder put in surely. "If Chase has made it this far; I _know_ he'll be ok."

"I suppose I must trust you.." Malachi surrendered. "Since you know better than I how he is... or.. was. But how do I get rid of this guilt? Why do I feel like I must rectify my mother's actions, as if they are my own?... How do I stop myself from feeling this way?" The hopelessness tore at his heart and it showed.. remorse and sadness cast its shadow upon him once more. Chase shifted his position, gingerly irritating his sore shoulder as he did so, and fell silent once he'd found a better position to lay in.

"You can do your best to put right what you _can_ change about your mother's decision." Frank told him. "But some things are out of your control. Though.. I'm sure there are many _little_ ways you can set right _some_ of the damage that has been done."

"But what if it's not enough? And I still feel this way?" Malachi protested, fearing this to come true; like some bout of bad luck.

"Then you find a way to ignore it." Frank told him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "We all have regrets in life; and we all need to learn how to deal with them. Though,.. I admit, it's not always easy to do. It took a lot of nerve to come here, you know. You had the guts to stand before the pup who's life is forever changed by what someone you cared about had done to him. And yet you didn't shy away, even when you got to the part where you sincerely begged for forgiveness."

"I guess I just knew it had to be done." Malachi shrugged earnestly.

"And it is the same principle with this." Frank finished wisely; and Malachi began to think very deeply on this realization. Then Billy, having been in deep thought this whole time too, realized something that ignited a small glimmer of hope within him.

"Maybe there _is_ something you can do to help Chase feel better." He said finally. And everyone awake looked up at him curiously, trying to follow his train of thought.

_XXXX_

Chase wandered out of the Lookout, with his head hanging rather sulkily. But when he looked up his brown eyes lit up in surprise of what they beheld. Ryder and the PAW Patrol stood next to the Prescotts; everyone gathered around Malachi and _another_ strange man. But when he took a closer look, he realized that he wasn't so strange after all.

"Chase, you remember Micheal Whitman, right?" Billy asked, gesturing to the man next to him, with his other hand on his shoulder.

"Um..yeah..uh.. he was the head of the zoom-it… wait." The realization hit him like a brick wall, and suddenly he froze as he thought about what this was to mean. Micheal held in his official clipboard in hand, and a bandanna that he recognized near immediately.

"I'm so excited for this day to come." Micheal smiled brightly. "I used to watch you train with Billy and his team for years. And now that they've found you again, I'm so proud to finally give you this." He knelt down, setting the clipboard aside to tie the blue bandana around the German Shepard's neck; bearing red lettering that read _zoom-it dog-in-training_. Words seemed to fail him, as he suddenly wondered if he was dreaming. "Congratulations Chase." Micheal beamed. "It's been a long time coming, I assure you."

"Malachi reached out to him for us and brought him here to make it official." Billy told him, as Micheal stood up again. "And he'll be overseeing the first _ever_ Zoom-it dog competition right here in Adventure Bay."

"They'll be hosting it on the beach just like they did back where you lived." Ryder added. Chase turned his shocked eyes on the young man, staring for only a moment; when the boy shot him an awkward smile.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" He cried finally, racing forward ecstatically. Malachi knelt down to accept the pup, who could hardly stand still; as he violently licked his face in the pure, blissful joy he felt bursting out of him. His tail wagged like a million miles an hour, as he snuggled up to Malachi.

"Guys check this out!!" He called, racing away to show his fellow pups. Frank came up next to Malachi, as he stood up again.

"Congratulations, young man." He smiled proudly. "You just made a very sad pup.. really happy."

"Believe me, it's the least I could do." Malachi responded, turning his shoulder toward him a bit more. "I just hope he'll be fit to compete by then."

"I'm sure Billy and his friends'll get him back in shape for it." Frank returned. "He's a tough pup. And Chase'll do anything he can to be ready to compete. Besides, he'll heal up just fine. I imagine he's still young enough that it'll be no trouble at all; at least granted he doesn't overdo it."

"I hope you're right, Frank." Malachi said, looking over at Chase again, with a slightly concerned expression.

"It looks great, Chase." Marshall beamed, the pups all grinning at how happy their friend was.

"Yeah, you look way cool, dude!" Zuma gushed with an excited hop.

"Yeah! Glad to see you finally have something to look forward to." Rocky grinned.

"What'do mean?" Chase wondered curiously.

"Well.. lately you've been kinda down." The recycling pup replied. "Ever since you were returned to us.. you've been struggling with recovering and.. what happened to you while you were out there. But finally you've been given something to be excited about."

"Yeah, you can finally focus on something that isn't sad for once." Rubble added, earning him more barks and _'yeahs'_ of agreement.

"I guess you're right." Chase shrugged loosely.

"Exactly. But, you know, we do have a LOT of work to do in order to get you ready to compete." Marshall pointed out. "And if you want to compete you've gotta do this right."

"I got it." Chase shrugged again, half scoffing.

"It's not gonna be easy, Chase." Marshall informed him seriously. "And it may get hard at some points. You may have to take it easy when that happens, ok."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Chase sighed, almost mockingly. "Nothing about this whole thing has been easy." He stated simply. "I'd be more surprised if it _was_ gonna be easy." Marshall opened his mouth to speak, but realized he had nothing to say; the words he'd intended to form dying in his throat before they could reach his mouth.

"So what do we do now?" Malachi wondered turning back from the pups talking just barely out of earshot of them, to the group of people in which he stood with.

"Well for now, meetings need to be set with Mayor Goodway and the Zoom-It Dog Competitive Foundation's representatives, to discuss the logistics of the competition and work out some details." Frank explained. "And Billy and his training team, assisted by the PAW Patrol, will work to get Chase ready for competition."

"And how long do you think that'll take?" Malachi asked.

"As long as it takes." Frank shrugged. "It all depends on him now. He needs to focus on his recovery.. and we'll make it very clear to him of that; if he wants to be apart of this."

"Do you think he'll comply?" The young man hinted slowly.

"We'll just have to find out." Frank said. "Though Chase's always been a good pup. And he's grown up a _lot_, since we reunited with him again. He'll know what'll happen if he doesn't comply with the terms set before him;.. but only time'll tell how long it'll take to get him there."

"I just hope I did the right thing." Malachi stated hopefully, dropping his gaze to the ground. "I'd hate to give him something he's always wanted, and then have it turn out that he can't have it after all."

"I'm sure he'll ensure that that doesn't happen. But we'll keep an eye on him just in case." Frank encouraged. "But even if he doesn't, we can always try to either reschedule or have another. Or he can wait another year, when he's _really_ feeling better.. Have him compete at his very best for the first time."

"I hope you're right." Malachi said lifting his gaze up to the cluster of pups again.

**Hey what's up guys!! Been a while since I've posted on this site, but I'm back!! Can't wait to see what you guys think of my work! Thx!!!**


	6. The Journey Begins

Chapter six: The Journey Begins

"Looks good on you, little bro." Chester smirked as he strode up through the group of pups. "Just be careful, maybe _I'll_ enter the competition just so I can beat you."

"*scoff* as if." Chase scoffed sarcastically, clearly not believing him.

"I'd like to enter to.." Zuma remarked excitedly, his smile fading a moment later. "But I probably wouldn't be any good at it."

"You should go for it, Zuma." Chase encouraged his friend meaningfully.

"Nah, that's ok." The Chocolate Lab shrugged. "Besides I'm not as good as you, and I don't wanna ruin your first _real_ competition."

"You may not be as _good_ as me.." Chase repeated slowly. "But you don't have to be."

"Chase is right." Skye agreed. "All that matters is that you give it your best shot." The other pups nodded together looking to their friend with a smile.

"You should go for it." Chase reinforced. "Even if you don't get very far. Besides.. who _else_ will give me a challenge during the competition." Chase shot him a knowing grin at this last statement.

"In that case.." Zuma thought for a moment longer. "You're on dude!" Chase and Zuma shared a high five as the other pups cheered. "So what'do we do now?" The Chocolate Lab wondered looking around the circle of pups.

"We start training." Chase decided bounding off toward a nearby tree. "We did this with some of the other pups in my unit, when I was training at the academy." The German Shepherd explained hopping up to get a hold of the branch. He attempted to pull his chin above the branch, but his shoulder trembled just seconds before twinging; and the pup lost his grip and fell flat on his back.

"Chase!!" The pups cried, Mariana immediately taking off to be next to her pup. Chase rolled over his hurt shoulder to get up, as his mother reached him. She took him up by the scruff of his neck and set him upright again.

"I'm fine, ya know." Chase insisted, stepping his paw under himself more; a hint of frustration in his tone.

"We know, Chase." Mariana told him tenderly. "But we were just.. worried about you there for a second. That's all."

"But you don't _have_ to be worried about me anymore." Chase protested shifting away from her to face her better. "I'm safe now. And I feel fine. You don't have to always worry about me."

"It's ok, Chase." Billy spoke up gently. "No one said we were _always_ worried about you."

"Ya didn't have to." Chase replied rather bluntly. "I can tell by how you're all still watching me, all the time. I'm not gonna fall apart like some breakable glass figure. I can handle myself." He slowly marched through the crowd of pups and people, to head for the Lookout, leaving everyone to stare after him in surprise.

"That was just weird." Skye remarked displeasurefully, raising an eyebrow in Chase's direction.

"Oh.. I'm sure he's just a little frustrated with what just happened." Frank guessed simply.

"Yeah,.. maybe he'll be better tomorrow." Maggie supposed kinda flatly. But Boomerang saw the distraught look in Mariana's eyes and it got him thinking to himself.

_XXXX_

Chase tossed and turned, rolled this way and that… but sleep would not come to his aid. _Could it be too much energy? Or was it because he could stop thinking? Maybe he was overly excited about the journey ahead? Or maybe he was just afraid of what sleeping meant_. Noises and voices rang out in his mind. Some good.. some not so good. As his thoughts wandered, he finally began to feel the heaviness of sleep begin its infiltration into his body and mind; bringing it to rest. Though he lay on his back, making everything appear to be upside down, he had this inkling of insecurity hinting in the back of his mind; though he paid it no mind. But when he finally entered into sleep, he realized that he was wrong to have done so.

_In the darkness he lay, a wisp of a cold breeze whisked past him, and the chill of it was enough to rouse him to his feet. Now seeming to be fully awake, he crouched low in a tense prowl; peering around the pure darkness that surrounded him. Suddenly two red shapes like eyes opened to peer at him. They only stared, until out of nowhere a piece of this darkness split away to attack, then morphed away as quickly as it'd come. Now lying flat on the ground, he glanced about for whatever had caused his brief tumble; but only found the pitch blackness of before. An off-tone growl sounded and Chase was on his paws again, another attacker whisked passed him seeming to leave a mark on his left shoulder as it went passed; but it vanished as soon as it appeared. Pain came as a wave with it, but it, too, faded to nothing once the wound was gone again. The sensation of claws stung his skin with another attack briskly diving under his chin; making him lift his head and step back a couple paces. Then, somehow, it was behind him and bashed him to the ground when he turned a shoulder to it. Sliding across the ground, Chase glared toward the direction of the shape he'd seen; which recoiled into the abyss of black to sneak around him once again. The familiar growl rumbled in as the eyes glared, then the darkness split to give wait to a pearly white CHOMP!!..._

Chase shot up and hit his head on the roof of his house, the impact enough to make him a little dizzy. Holding his head til the pain went down and the dizziness subsided, he slid his paw down off it and sighed at the ground. And the extra thing to hit the ground after his paw… was a few single drops like rain to the ground.

_XXXX_

Warmth.. calm.. peace.. quiet.. For once Marshall felt he could rest easy. Though the reason was beyond him, he cared little about it. All that mattered to him in this moment was the calm, quiet, stillness that the world had finally granted him. Even the warm glow of dawn could not deter him from his blissful slumber; even when it rose up to sting his pupils through his closed eyes.

"Come on, dude, wake up!" He heard Zuma cry. Marshall stirred. _Was he talking to him? But why did he sound so far away? Was he even outside? _Marshall didn't want to look, but curiosity finally overtook him and he cracked an eye open to vaguely see the Chocolate Lab by the dark blue pup house, rousing a little brown lump laying within it. Chase groaned and shifted, but made no attempt to stir. Zuma nudged him again and Chase responded the same way.

"Come Chase, it's time to wake up! You're usually awake by now." The young Lab coaxed.

"*yawn* having trouble waking Chase this morning?" Marshall asked, yawning deeply as he slowly hobbled over sleepily to join him.

"Yeah.. but he doesn't seem to _want_ to get up today. That's weird, right?" Zuma peered at his friend in red curiously, hoping he wasn't the only one to notice this.

"Chase's sleeping patterns have changed since he got back." Marshall reasoned. "Maybe it's just another one of those days."

"Yeah.. ok. Maybe you're right." Zuma complied with a shrug, dropping his gaze to Chase again.

"Come on.. let's let him sleep for a little while longer." Marshall continued turning to leave. "Looks like he needs it." And when he bounded off toward the Lookout doors, Zuma soon followed suit after the Dalmatian.

_Finally, they're gone_. Chase's mind thought, as their footsteps faded away. _Now they can't see how messed up I **really** am_. One single tear moistened his cheek, disappearing into the crack between his face and his foreleg; which his cheek was rested upon.

_XXXX_

The door creaked open and Chase slowly strolled inside. Every pup looked in his direction at the sound of his entry, a smile coming across their faces at the sight of him.

"Chase, you made it!" Kylie smiled happily, her tail wagging lightly.

"You're looking better." Chase smiled flatly. "Does this mean you're _feeling_ better too?"

"I've come to terms with what has happened, if that's what you mean." Kylie replied, loosely; her eyes falling to the floor, with a positive glow in her eye. "But I am coping better than I was."

"Whatever Boomerang said.. it worked." Ci Ci half joked, giving him a genuinely happy smirk.

"Yeah.. and now everyone's coming out of their shells.." Tiny stated brightly. "Even me!"

"Wow, what universe did I just step into?" Chase wondered sarcastically. "Kylie's finally happy and talking more, and Ci Ci is actually making jokes and smiling; and Tiny's having a good day for once."

"Run a little late, did ya?" A voice from his left implied humorously. Rayla stood there, having just come out from around the mini indoor playset, a mischievous grin staring him in the face.

"How do you-"

"Beat ya here, for once." Rayla cut him off, reading his mind near immediately.

"I see that, but-.. how?" Chase asked.

"As I said.. did you run a little late today?" The Golden Lab wondered simply. "Haven't you been able to come sooner than now?"

"Well-.. yeah I guess but-.."

"Then I guess you were a little slow today." Rayla snickered proudly. Chase just watched her blankly; not sure how to respond.

"Looks like she missed you." Tiny whispered to him ever so subtly. Chase shot him a curious look then lifted it back up to Rayla. Then the door opened once more, earning all their attention once again.

"Hi guys!!" The Black Sheepdog exclaimed with her high squeaky voice.

"Annnd Skyler's back." Tiny sighed with a roll of his eyes, earning him an elbow by Rayla. "What?! I'm kidding!" The chihuahua protested, innocently surrendering.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what?!?!" The Border Collie gushed running circles around them as usual; ending by tackling Chase onto his back.

"*slight grunt* I don't know.." Chase responded dryly. "What?" He developed a humorous smile at her endless enthusiasm.

"I heard about the Zoom-it Dog competition and I'm sooooo glad you're gonna be in it, Chase!!!" The sheepdog smiled, her tail violently wagging; almost creating a breeze.

"Wait, you know what Zoom-it dogs are?" Chase asked, blindsided to know this.

"Of course!" Skyler replied, finally stepping off of him. "I used to run with a pack of Sheepdogs that were Zoom-it dogs. They never _officially_ competed though; we just had our own little competitions for fun. Us and our people, that is."

"Soo.. what happened?" Chase asked, getting up again.

"My owner got really sick." Skyler sighed unfortunately, dropping her head down and sideways a bit. "He couldn't take care of me anymore. It was the hardest decision he ever had to make. But we both knew it had to be done."

"Didn't he have a family member you could stay with?" Tiny asked, unbelieving of this information.

"No.. not that had the time or ability to do it, that is." Skyler informed them. "His parents weren't in the best of health either and his siblings all had families of their own. And none of his friends wanted to take me in, some because they couldn't.. others because they didn't _want_ to. I was put in a shelter, when Mrs. CorDan adopted me for my black and white coloring."

"And we all know the rest." Rayla finished for her.

"Exactly." The sheepdog confirmed.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, Skyler." Chase apologized sadly. "That must've been hard to deal with."

"It was.." Skyler agreed with a slight nod. "But it's ok… I got through it.. just like we all got through being Mrs. CorDan's trophy pups, for whatever reason."

"At least _some_ of us were her trophy pups." Rayla stayed dryly looking at Chase.

"What do you mean by that?" Chase wondered catching her gaze immediately.

"She wasn't as harsh toward you when she first brought you to the mansion, as she was with most of us." Rayla explained. "And.. strangely enough.. she actually treated you way _better_ than she did _any_ of us when _we_ first came."

"Really?" Chase breathed, hardly able to believe it.

"Yeah.. crazy thing right?" Rayla returned, half-jokingly.

"I can't imagine what it'd been like for you guys." Chase told them sorrowfully, shrinking down a little. "It can't have been good, if that's what _really_ happened."

"It's ok." Rayla soothed sensitively. "It's not your fault.. And we don't begrudge you for it. You got what you got, and in the end you got the _worst_ treatment from her. But none of it was _your_ fault. And now we're all safe and sound because of you."

"I know but-"

"We don't blame you." Kylie cut him off gently.

"If anything we feel kinda embarrassed for what you went through for us." Tiny admitted sheepishly.

"Why?" The German Shepherd questioned with a forceful emphasis of curiosity in his tone.

"Well.. because you tried to escape the mansion to get someone to come free us.. and ended up taking a beating for it." Tiny explained loosely.

"And might I add a terrible one." Rayla put in. "You're neck was sore for weeks and your shoulder _still_ bothers you from time to time. Rex nearly tore you apart.. and you still have the marks to prove it."

"And it's all because of us." Kylie added.

"I told you guys.. I _wanted_ to do it." Chase insisted again, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "I wasn't gonna sit idly by and let Mrs. CorDan get away with how she was treating us.. or Rex. They had no right to do what they did. I did it because I knew what they were doing was wrong."

"We know.." Ci Ci spoke up understandingly. "We just.. need some time to fully come to terms with that fact." The pups all nodded turning their attention to Chase once more; who just stared at them, unsure of how to respond.

**Well here's the next chapter already. I apologize for how sporadic my posting is. But I'll try to do better about that in the future once I get caught up on a few things. Anyway enjoy this new chapter!! Thx!!!**


	7. Tough Trials

Chapter seven: Tough Trials

"Ok, Chase. You ready?" Billy asked, calling the pup to join him outside the Lookout, to which the German Shepherd came bounding after him.

"Yeah I-" Chase suddenly froze when something surprising stood before him.

"Hi Chase, long time no see." A dusty blonde-haired man waved; a bright smile on his face. Exchanging it with his brunette companion.

"Marcus! Daniel! It's you!!" Chase cried, racing up to them.

"Ha ha! Been a while hasn't it, little C." The brunette chuckled, ruffling the pup's fur, as the two men knelt down to receive the excited pup.

"Little C?" Rocky echoed, as the PAW Patrol and Chester drew near.

"Yeah, back in the day, when we were pups, Marcus and Daniel came to meet us before Chase was enrolled in the academy." Chester explained. "And since our names both start with a 'C', and I'm older than Chase. They decided to nickname us Big C and Little C."

"Yup." Marcus, the blonde, confirmed. "But from the look of it.." he went on looking Chase over. "You're not so _little_ anymore, Chase."

"That's right." Chase beamed proudly. "I've grown up a _lot_ since you guys last saw me. I've got my police pup training and everything!"

"Way to go!" Daniel praised, giving him a thumbs up. "We always knew you would."

"Yeah.. well it didn't _exactly_ go the way we wanted it to.." Chase admitted awkwardly. "But I got there eventually."

"So we've heard." Marcus stated. "And it also sounds like we've got a lot of work to do."

"Yeah..uh.. I guess." Chase trailed off rather dryly.

"So how bad was it?" Daniel asked, as Marcus gently lifted his collar to get a look at the pinkish mark still visible due to the small patch of fur that was missing from the wound.

"Um.. ehh.. not too bad." Chase shrugged, giving the illusion of self ease.

"Really? It seemed pretty bad from what Chris and Ryan said.. and Billy." Marcus reasoned surprisingly.

"You talked to them?" Chase realized, looking at them in surprise.

"Of course." Daniel confirmed. "They were the ones who reached out to us for Billy."

"Oh.." Chase's gaze dropped thoughtfully. "So.. you came all this way.. for me?" He lifted his curious eyes back up to look at them, a thoughtful look of confusion displayed across his face.

"Not just that.. we're here to help get you back in shape." Daniel smiled.

"Rumor has it, your training for your first Zoom-it dog competition." Marcus hinted, shooting him a knowing smirk.

"Well you heard right!" Chase smiled. "And I have the bandana to prove it!! I'll go get it!!" Then the pup bounded off toward his pup house. Reaching it, he ducked his head inside just long enough to grab the deep blue material of the bandana. And turning blindly, he stepped on the edge of the blue-starred bowl; falling forward into a puddle of clear wetness. Lifting his head, he shook it; slowly rising to shake the rest of his body in order to _somewhat_ dry himself off. Looking down into the puddle he now stood in, he saw his own reflection. The bandana had luckily landed beyond the puddle, remaining completely dry somehow. But when he glanced back down at his reflection, he noticed the pinkish mark poking over his shoulder; resulting in a flash of Rex's bite, and he could almost swear he'd felt. Clenching his eyes closed, as he flinched at its passing; he shook his head again and took off once more, scooping up the bandana on his way by it and racing as fast as he could away from the puddle.

_XXXX_

"There you are, Chase." Rocky said, when they heard footsteps returning in their direction.

"What happened to you?" Marshall asked, cocking his head curiously at him. "You look kinda.. wet."

"I am.." Chase answered, slowly lowering his gaze. "But it's fine. I just tripped over my bowl, cause I wasn't paying attention." He set his bandana down in front of him and sat down, looking up at Daniel and Marcus. "See, here it is." He smiled, proudly pointing a paw at it.

"Pretty cool, little C." Marcus chimed. "But, ya know, that's not where it _really_ belongs." Chase picked up on the knowing smirk on his face and stood up as the man knelt down to pick up the bandana and tie it around the pup's neck. "There.. that's better. Ready to get started now?"

"You bet!!" Chase barked excitedly.

"Hang on, Chase." Marshall interjected, stepping in the German Shepherd's path. "You're still recovering." He reminded him. "So first things first.. we check how well your shoulder is healing."

"*sigh* fine." Chase gave in dryly, for lack of the ability to protest.

_XXXX_

Marshall maneuvered Chase's foreleg around an invisible circle, as far as his range of motion would allow. Then bringing it up to stick straight up, he applied pressure. Chase felt the pressure barely sting him, but desired not to say so. Maintaining this pressure, he slowly brought his leg down to his side; then straight back up to raise it to his ear. The Dalmatian seemed very optimistic until he brought it around to stick out from his body; and Chase couldn't help but say:

"Ow." Flinching at the discomfort that it created.

"Well it _is_ still healing well." The EMT pup reported. "But it still seems to be out of place somehow." Chase just seemed to stare at the sky above him.. as though paying him no mind at all. But in his mind all he could think was.. _great_.

"But.. he'll be able to practice today.. right?" Zuma asked.

"Of course he can." Marshall nodded. "But he'll probably have a bit of trouble, so he'll have to take it slow for a while."

"That's not gonna be easy, for Chase." Skye noted. "I mean.. we all know Chase."

"I'm fine, you guys." Chase insisted, rolling up to his feet again; away from Marshall's touch. "You don't need to keep worrying about me. I'm ready."

"We know, Chase." Skye spoke up. "We just wanna be sure you _truly_ are. We don't wanna see you get hurt again.. that's all."

"Oh..uh..yeah.. sure." Chase's meandering tone showed in his demeanor as well; as he strode through the group toward Billy and the Cason brothers, but it wasn't at all sarcastic. "I'm ready to start training.." His gaze seemed off to Billy, but he still listened mindfully to what he said. "Can we.. just focus on that for a while?" The pup requested earnestly.

"Uh.. sure." Billy complied simply, adding a shrug of innocent understanding.

"And we can start right now." Marcus announced, gesturing a hand out behind where the pups stood. The pups all turned to see what it was he was motioning to,.. and gasped with what they saw. The PAW Patrol marveled.. but Chase smiled.

"Cool!! My old training course!!" He gushed, racing onto the field of obstacles.

"Training course?" Skye echoed, as they all strode over to join him.

"Yeah." Chase smiled, peering through the window jump's rectangular hole. "Marcus, Daniel and Billy set it up for me when I was little; to get me ready to be a police pup." He scampered over to the see-saw, hopping up onto the end of it. "The academy's training program was _all_ about courses. Zoom-it dog courses were set up too from time to time." He slowly strode forward on the see-saw as he spoke; and when his weight began to shift it over, he easily slid down to the other side landing it smoothly on the ground. Hopping off it again he raced up to the platform at the center of the course; jumping on top of it. "We trained on it all the time.. and I got really good at it… Sometimes Billy would change it up on me and had me run it, but.. it was totally easy." The pup scoffed shooting Billy a knowing grin.

"Nothing got past you.. that's for sure." Billy smirked.

"Anyway.." Chase continued when hopping down onto the grass again. "I ran this course a million times back then.. and I bet I still know how it goes."

"I bet you do.." Marcus concurred understandably. "But your injury means we need to start slow."

"I don't need to start slow." Chase returned certainly, shaking his head. "I'm fine.. see?" He leapt over the brush covered hurdle and carefully dove around the flag marker and up the catwalk. Plunging down it cautiously.. he threaded himself through the tire hoop easily and flew through the tunnel under the runged wall. Whipping himself around, he hopped up onto the wall, managing to get his paws over the top of it to pull himself over it.. But his shoulder twinged and he found he couldn't keep his grip, knocking him to the ground in a tumbling heap.

"Chase!" Skye squeaked, as Marshall darted toward him.

"You need to be careful, Chase.." the Dalmatian told him helping his friend up again. "You need to-"

"Ok, ok, I get it.. I'm not ready yet." Chase interrupted, pushing his friend's paw away and strolling away sadly. Everyone froze as Chase left, a surprised look coming over all of their faces, but Marshall's couldn't help but frown in a thoughtfully suspicious expression. _What is going on with him? _He had to ask himself

_XXXX_

"Come one, Chase.." Daniel encouraged. "With a little work you'll be back in peak condition in no time!!"

"Exactly!" Marcus concurred. "We don't have all that much to work on.. you've already shown us you can handle most of it. It's just that stubborn shoulder that we've gotta work on."

"Stubborn! Heh.. that's putting it lightly." The German Shepherd mumbled dryly, avoiding their glance as he stared into his bowl of water hopelessly. Everyone's expressions shifting to looks of complete and utter bewilderment.

"Chase.. why are you being this way?" Ryder asked innocently, his heart troubled by this change in his beloved pup's demeanor.

"*sigh* it's nothing." Chase sighed deeply. "I guess I just need some sleep." He finished, as he strode away to exit the Lookout.

"That was soo weird, right??" Zuma stated, looking about at the others around him.

"What's up with Chase?" Skye wondered aloud.

"His shoulder's not getting better like he wants it to be." Billy pointed out. "I think he's just getting frustrated with _not_ being fine.. even though he desperately wants to be."

"He's using this attitude as a way to distract from something else." Maggie thought aloud. "But what?" And Boomerang developed another suspicious expression.

_XXXX_

Chase lay in his pup house, staring listlessly out at the course set before him. His mind longed for the good old days, when he hadn't gotten hurt and he could still move without worrying about pain in his shoulder and stiffness in that same leg. That he didn't have to wake up in the mornings so stiff, at times, he could hardly move at all. _What kind of pup have I become? _He thought sadly. _That I have suffered such a loss? What deed have I failed to fulfill that has gotten me such a cruel punishment? What's wrong with me?! _Pawsteps sounded, and he forcefully swallowed his pride around the building lump in his throat; and quieted his thoughts for fear that whoever was coming would hear them.

"Seems a little early for a pup like you to turn in for the night." The old Australian Shepherd remarked simply, beginning to draw closer once again.

"I'm just.. _really_ tired today." Chase lied, shifting his head away from him.

"I hardly believe that that's the _only_ reason." Boomerang reasoned. "What's wrong, Chase?" The old Shepherd pried gently.

"I just…" The pup sat up. "Wanna be able to.. _not hurt_ anymore,.. ya know?" Chase complained, finding the courage to look him in the eyes.

"I understand…" Boomerang nodded tenderly. "Injuries are hard to come back from.. but part of recovery is accepting what has happened to you in order to get past it." Chase perked up at this and finally turned his way again; and he could immediately see the genuine meaning he was hinting at.

"Yeah.. I guess." The pup responded, turning away to lay his head down again with his body.

"Just think about it…" Boomerang told him, standing to his feet gingerly. "You may find how much of a difference it'd make." Then he strode away to leave the pup with his thoughts. Unbeknownst to him, though, the pup's eyes glazed and he silently sniffled, covering his eyes with his paws.

**Hey everybody!! I'm back with another new chapter!! Been trying to get back into the swing of things, since life's been a bit crazy lately. But.. have no fear more is yet to come! And yes, I know I sound crazy when I say that; but don't worry!! Hopefully it'll be worth it in the end. Thx!!!**


	8. On The Surface

Chapter eight: On The Surface

Chase practically twisted himself into a pretzel with the blankets he'd wrapped himself up in. Laying on his side, he strained to stretch himself out. As if suddenly receiving a blow, he jerked his head back hitting the wall that he came into contact with him. Disoriented and in pain, he scrambled upright; rubbing his head with his paw until the pain went down a little. The pup lowered his paw to inspect it.. as if checking for blood; and even though he didn't see any, he still set his paw down with a heavy sigh.

_XXXX_

The mini audience turned toward him, when hearing the Lookout doors slid open.

"Morning Chase." Marcus greeted warmly.

"Feel any better?" Skye wondered hopefully.

"Yeah.. I guess." The pup replied, though they couldn't tell if his half-hearted response was because he was still feeling down,.. or if he was still just a little sleepy.

"Well.. We're ready to try again if you are." Daniel put in, brightly rising from his chair. "We still have a lot of work to do to get you ready for the competition… That is… if you still wanna compete."

"Of course I still wanna compete." Chase lightened up, as if surprised that he'd even imply such a thing otherwise.

"Relax Chase.." Frank reasoned softly, gesturing a hand to him subtly. "He was just joking."

"*sigh* Yeah ok." The pup sat back on his haunches and dropped his gaze away from them.

"Chase.. are you ok? You've kinda seemed a little off these past few days." Ryder mentioned gently. "Is there something going on that you're not telling us?"

"No.. I…" The pup trailed, listlessly wandering his eyes out toward the door. "I guess I've just had so much to think about." The pup admitted solemnly. "Ever since I got back everything has.. changed… I guess I'm still figuring out how to adjust."

"It's ok, Chase.." The boy said, coming to pull the pup into a tender embrace. "I know it's hard.. but we're here to help you.." He stroked the pup's head as he laid his chin on it. "That's why Marcus and Daniel are here to train you… they wanna see you compete in the competition as much as the rest of us."

"I know." Chase sighed, as they broke apart again; his eyes downcast. "And I'm trying to stay positive.." He lifted his deep brown eyes to meet the ones if his leader. "It just seems like it's been getting harder and harder to do that lately."

"I bet it is.. but I think part of it is you're trying too hard." Billy reasoned, and he began to explain when Chase gave him an odd look. "I know you wanna be healed.. but the reality is you're.. not quite there yet… But that's why we're here, to get you back to that point; as close as we can get anyway." Chase's heart sank at the last part, but he chose to force himself not to show it; knowing that it'd raise suspicion, though something inside him wondered that that might've already happened.

"Either way.. we'll get you in shape for living your long awaited dream." Maggie encouraged. "..No matter what it takes."

"And I think it know a way that's both helpful _and_ fun." Marcus noted. "And I think your pal, Zuma, can help with that." The Chocolate Lab was taken aback by the mention of his name; indicated by the lightening of his expression that blinked its way onto his face.

_XXXX_

Marshall snapped the tape off the rest of the roll and smoothed the end of it down over his friend's shoulder. And then Maggie helped him step into his wetsuit, zipping it on, up his back.

"Soo.. what are we doing again?" Chase wondered, looking from Maggie standing over him to Billy nearest to the water's edge.

"We're gonna work on strengthening that shoulder again." Daniel explained, clipping a cinch to the back of a harness; then knelt down to Chase to tighten it onto him. "Ok.. so since your shoulder is really the only obstacle we have to overcome.. the water is a great place to work on that."

"Huh?" Chase questioned.. finding no understanding of what this meant.

"The swimming motion allows you to build up the strength in it again." Billy explained, as he escorted them up onto the dock to board the Flounder; which set sail for open water once everyone was aboard. "And with careful monitoring from Marshall, we can manage your pain and swelling till it starts to get stronger."

"Um ok, I guess that makes sense." Chase nodded slowly. The Flounder made it out a short distance before dropping anchor.

"This is it.." Capt'n Turbot announced peeking out from the pilot's cab. "The perfect place to take the plunge."

"That's your cue, Chase." Billy said, as everyone's gaze fell upon the pup once again. "You ready?"

"I guess so." Chase replied simply, and Billy took him up, and let him jump out of his arms into the water below. Chase immediately came up and maintained a steady paddling motion that easily kept him afloat.

"So.. now what?" The pup wondered, looking up at them quizzically.

"Now.. we challenge you." Billy answered thrillingly. Zuma suddenly emerged from the deep splashing forth with his water rescue pack and helmet.

"How's it hangin', dude?" The Chocolate Lab smirked.

"Ok, I guess." Chase answered a bit offly.

"Ok Zuma.. place the marker." Billy instructed, pointing out to his left; which would be the two pups' right.

"You got it!" The brown pup in orange responded, jetting his way over about ten feet; before setting up a weighted buoy with a bright red flag on it. The end of this buoy was secured to the access ladder of the Flounder by a long cable to prevent it from floating too far away.

"So.. what's next?" Chase wondered, glancing up at the ones still left on the boat.

"You swim to him.." Billy replied simply. "As fast and as _best _you can."

"Um.. ok." The pup responded, turning toward his friend far out beyond them.

"On my count." Daniel called, holding up his watch. "One.. two.. three.. go!" Chase swam as hard as he could, his sights set on the Chocolate Lab awaiting his arrival. But as he'd made it about halfway a tingling pinch in his shoulder stuck needles into it, prohibiting his movements a bit; but he struggled on. _I can make it.. I **know **I can!!_ He told himself strongly, pushing himself to keep going. But the more he pressed the more it seemed to hurt; yet _still _he persisted. _Have.. to keep.. going!!_ Paddle after painful paddle, he finally neared the buoy marker; breathlessly pressing a paw to it when reaching it.

"Great work, dude!" Zumba praised excitedly.

"His time's not good." Daniel noted subtly to Billy so Chase wouldn't hear; glancing at him from the corner of his eye. "But that's what we expected given the circumstances."

"I know, he's got a long way to go.." Billy returned quietly. "But let's not let him _know _that."

"Agreed." Marcus put in slowly. "We know how down he's been lately. And how down he's gotten when things aren't going right for him."

"I..uh.. think I'm ready to be done now." Chase called, beginning to swim a bit oddly.

"Ok, come on back then." Billy complied willingly, waving to him. Eyes fixed ahead, Chase began the paddling trek back.. soon realizing that his strength was nearly spent; and his shoulder was starting to _really_ hurt.

"You ok, dude?" Zuma wondered, coming alongside him.

"Yeah..um.." He adjusted himself again to keep from falling under. "I'm kinda just struggling to keep going, that's all."

"Oh.. well don't worry Chase dude, just hang on to me." The Chocolate Lab offered putting a paw around his friend; to which the gesture was returned. "I'll help you back to the Flounder."

"Why's Chase holding onto Zuma like that?" Marshall wondered, when shielding his eyes to see them.

"Maybe he's out of energy to keep going on his own?" Rubble suggested, looking at Ryder; who simply shrugged for lack of a better response. The two pups made it back to the boat, and Billy bent down(with help from Maggie) to bring Chase back up on deck, before bending down to retrieve Zuma as well. Setting Chase down, the pup shook off as much water as he could and sat down; his shoulder throbbing by this point, making him completely reluctant to use it. As Zuma came up onto the deck, though, he tried his best to give the illusion that nothing was wrong; willing himself to look anything other than in pain.

"We'll try this again later." Ryder figured. "But, for now, let's give your shoulder a rest. Don't wanna overdo it, ya know."

"Uhh.. yeah.. sure." Chase agreed slowly, remaining where he was after a slight hesitating movement.

"You ok, Chase?" Skye wondered a bit suspiciously. "You seem a little.. uncomfortable."

"What do you mean?" Chase wondered, a bit of nervousness hinting in the back of his mind, though refusing to show it.

"It's just that-.. you seem like you're in pain.." The Cockapoo's eyes bore into Chase's innocently. "Is your shoulder hurting more than your showing?" _How did she guess?! _Chase's mind cried.

"Umm.. kinda?" The German Shepherd answered, almost as a question. Feeling unconvinced Marshall elbowed Chase's right shoulder just below the injured area.

"Ow! Marshall!" Chase reacted, placing a paw to his shoulder and frowning at the Dalmatian painfully.

"Sorry.." Marshall apologized earnestly. "But I think you really are hurting more than you say."

"It's ok to admit that it hurts." Rubble spoke up. "I mean.. you _did _get pretty badly hurt when that Rottweiler; Rex attacked you."

"Rubble's right." Rocky agreed. "You don't have to play tough with us about your injury."

"In fact, we _wanna_ know when it hurts." Marshall added. "We wanna be able to help you.. you don't have to _'tough it out' _all the time."

"Especially if you don't have to." Ryder confirmed the pups' points.

"*deep sigh* I know." The pup sighed, almost in an exasperated tone; which no one saw coming from the police pup in blue.

"Well.. don't worry, Chase. Once we get back to the Lookout we'll ice it, and I can give you something for the pain again." Marshall offered rather forwardly.

"Ok." Chase complied with another heavy sigh, then turned away to lay down. The teams hearts broke once more, as they exchanged more glances of concern and hurt.

_XXXX_

Chase dipped his nose into the bowl of water set before him, drinking up the dissolved medicine within it. Finishing it by licking his lips, he looked up when a cold sensation pressed into his shoulder; then laid down in catching a glimpse of the one pressing the ice pack on him.

"Hang on, Chase." Billy told him, sliding his hand under the pup to lift him up again. "We're gonna try something new." Chase felt a tightening occur on his shoulder and opposite side; then vice versa for the other one. Billy's hand ran straps from the blue ice pack, round each shoulder and securing them to the straps that wrapped down around his sides; these straps crossing paths underneath him at his chest. "This'll hold the ice pack in place for ya." Billy explained, shifting away after finishing.

"Ok.. thanks." Chase thanked him flatly, laying his head down on his paws. Billy gently rubbed the pup's head and stood up, making his way over to the group standing a short distance from him; watching everything.

"He looks so sad." Rocky sighed sadly.

"He's even worse than before." Marshall added hurtfully.

"Maybe he's _not _healing like he should be?" Rubble supposed, looking to Ryder and the people among him.

"Oh he's healing.." Frank stated, glancing briefly at the pups to return his gaze to the single, lonely one.. "Just not adequately in every area."

"His shoulder _is _gonna hurt some, as we begin to work on it again." Billy explained. "But Chase is beginning to lose hope in himself."

"You think there's anything we can do?" Skye asked hopefully.

"Maybe." Maggie shrugged, without breaking her gaze from where she was sitting on a beanbag. "But what it is'll take a bit to figure out." The pups' gazes dropped down to Chase once more, as they stared wistfully over at him. Silence ensued creating an awkward atmosphere that disturbed everyone.. but no one knew what to say or do.

"We'll continue the physical therapy program we have going for him.." Billy spoke up finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence, much to everyone's relief. "And in the meantime we need to come up with a plan on how to boost his spirits, if we have any hope in _truly_ recovering him to full strength." Chester took a couple cautious steps forward, before giving in to his legs' plea to approach the other German Shepherd; lying listlessly in front of them.

**Hey everybody!! So here's the next chapter. Not exactly sure when I last posted to this story, but I know it's been a little bit. But anyway, can't wait to hear your thoughts on it and I'll see you next time! Thx!!!**


	9. Return Of The Heart

Chapter nine: Return Of The Heart

Creeping across the floor as if trying to sneak up on him, Chase's mirror image of a brother stopped at his side and sat down. Lifting a paw he momentarily stopped it, before choosing to set it down gently on Chase's back, to which the pup leaned his head slightly back toward him; unable to bring himself to look at his brother.

"Hey..uh.. y- you ok, bro?" Chester almost whispered, almost afraid of what he'd say. Chase leaned his head to the right(opposite the side Chester was standing on) against his paw with a sigh.

"I'm tired of this.." He spoke up softly. "I'm tired of feeling like I can't _do_ anything."

"But you _can_ do things." Chester returned meaningfully.

"Not like I used to." Chase withdrew, sitting up, the slight pain making him grunt and close one eye toward it. "I can't move like I want to.. and I can't stop hurting without help… maybe it's hopeless."

"Don't say that!" Chester cried, coming to stand in front of him, crouching down to be eye level with Chase. "It's not hopeless.. its.. just gonna take some time." He stood at his full height when Chase looked his way. "You knew that, when you started treatment upon returning home." Chase broke his gaze to the ground, hopelessness still dripping off his face. "I know it's not what you wanna hear.. but it _will_ take time.. more time than you might think. But part of your healing is understanding that your injuries have set you back and bit.. And remain mindful of that, as you press forward; and _not_ overdo yourself simply because you want to be better. You can't rush healing.." Chester lifted his brother's chin to meet his gaze. "No matter how hard you try." Chase's eyes glazed over as if he were to cry.. but no tear ever fell.

"I know." He sighed finally dropping his head.

"Look." Chester lifted Chase's gaze back to his. "I think we can ask Billy, Marcus, and Daniel if they can make your therapy more fun.. but you gotta figure out how to handle this better. And I'll be here to help you if you need it.."

"We _all_ will." Marshall added, as the pups drew closer.

"I know you're used to directing traffic, but now we're here to walk _you_ through this process." Chester continued. "It's ok to feel unsure of yourself here.. this is a work in progress. Plus come on.. who _wouldn't_ want an excuse to get wet on a hot summer day." Chester smirked and somehow encouraged Chase to lightly giggle with him.

"Yeah.. I guess you may be right." The pup half chuckled in saying this.

"That's the spirit!" Chester praised, ruffling the fur on his brother's head. "Don't worry.. knowing you.. this feeling of helplessness won't last forever. 'Least not on my watch.. if I _had_ one." Chase and Chester shared another chuckle, life returning back to Chase's eyes; as he suddenly looked like himself again. This reaction brought warmth to their hearts, at this wave of relief that washed over them in seeing it.

"So Chase.. what'do wanna do when you get done icing your shoulder?" Rocky wondered.

"I don't know." The pup shrugged, despite his limited range of motion; due to the ice pack(and the pain). "I guess we could try to loosening up a bit with some easy pup-yoga exercises."

"Sounds like a great idea, Chase." Frank smiled, Ryder nodding in agreement.

"Ok.. sounds good." Skye smiled, pleasurefully wagging her tail.

"I've never done pup-yoga before.." Chester thought aloud. "Sounds fun." Chase just shook his head, and humorously rolled his eyes up with a sigh to match his grin.

_XXXX_

Chase stretched, lowering his forelegs toward the floor, tail straight up, but immediately receive a twinge and lowered himself all the way down to the floor.

"Ok pups.. I can't do this one.. but let's go with downward dog." Chase delegated to the group around their circle. Chester followed the other pups movements, but seeing how easy the position was and the glee in Chase's eyes.. he took the opportunity that was presented to him. Lowering himself to his front elbows, he placed a paw to his cheek to rest his head against casually.

"Ahh.. man.. this is the life am I right, pups?"

"How are you doing that?!" Skye gasped in surprise, as Chase held back a giggle.

"Oh you mean _this_?!" Chester asked goofily. Turning his shoulders to lay on his back, he made a goofy face and sound; forcing Chase to bite back his laughter. Chester sang the _'I'm walking on air'_ song while _literally_ walking his paws through the open air above him; then rolled onto his belly to _'ground swim'_ intentionally making the bubbling noises. By this time, Chase had given up trying _not_ to laugh and was rolling on the ground in completely hysterics at his brother's goofing off. Chester chuckled as he stood himself up where he was, gleefully taking in his success. As Chase recovered, still lying on his back, he looked up at the shadow being cast over him; finding it to be none other than Chester, grinning down upon him.

"Hah, you know.. this is the most interesting pup yoga class I've ever seen." Chase giggled, shooting Chester a knowingly serious look; despite his remaining broad smile.

"But isn't that the point with me?" Chester returned coolly, making Chase snicker once more.

"Yeah, yeah.. so you say." Chase joked, adding to his brother's amusement. The pups joined in the laughter, as they were now _all_ engaging into the antics of the two German Shepherds.

"Well.. I'm glad you're feeling better, Chase." Rocky smiled, giggling a bit as he spoke. "I know this whole thing hasn't been easy for you."

"Well..I still don't feel _great_." Chase admitted. "But.. I _do_ feel better than I did… thanks to you guys."

No problem, dude!" Zuma piped certainly. "That's what we're here for!"

_XXXX_

"I just don't know, Rayla." Chase sighed loosely, plopping down to hang his head off the edge of the indoor playset he was lying on. "Training has started, but.. is doesn't _feel_ like there's been any progress on it."

"I know you've probably heard this a lot, but.. give it time." The Golden Lab reassured him from where she was below him; lifting her gaze to his. "Its gonna take a _lot_ after what Rex did to you. Besides.. I'm sure they'll understand if you can't compete this time.. I hardly believe this'll end with one competition."

"But I've wanted this for years, and haven't gotten the chance!" Chase protested turning his gaze on her hurtfully. "And now I do. I can't miss out this time."

"You can, if you can't physically do it." Rayla pointed out. "Look.. I know you don't wanna sit this one out, like you have all the others.. but if your injury is still an issue by then.. it's probably not safe for you to even _try_ to compete. I wouldn't want you to risk re-injury so soon, none of us would. It could cause more damage than good."

"I know you're right." Chase sighed unfortunately. "But I kinda wish to believe otherwise."

"Pshuh, wouldn't put it past ya." Tiny remarked with an understanding smirk, earning him a distasteful glare from Ci Ci. "What? All I'm saying is that he's been through a lot. It's no wonder he feels this way."

"Don't worry, Chase." Rayla reinforced once again, turning from the other pup's to the German Shepherd, as he hopped down off the playset. "Things'll get better eventually. And let's all hope it's sometime soon."

"Yeah.. let's hope." Chase repeated lowering his gaze thoughtfully; hoping that saying it himself would help him to start believing it.

XXXX

"Go!" Chase took off at his command and began the first obstacle. Diving into the open mouth before him, he slid through the canvas tunnel; only to dive right into the semi-circular tunnel right after it. Hopping up through the window of the window jump, pressure occured;.. yet he kept going. Racing up one end of the seesaw, he weighed it down to the other side until it touched the ground; before leaping off of it and dashing around toward the line of weaving flags. As the name of the obstacle states, Chase swiftly weaved his way through them, clipping the last one ever so slightly with his shoulder; the pressure building slightly more. Pausing for a moment on the waiting platform from which he took off; he counted to five in his head before shooting forward and over the brush jump; unable to hold back a little sneeze in the process. Slipping around the flag marker, he swiftly climbed the cat walking maintaining his balance all the way, as he sprinted across it and down the other side, the pressure by now becoming increasingly evident. Streamlining himself, he cleared the tire hoop and dove into the final tunnel. His body slightly tensed, as he rounded himself around to climb the small wall set over top of the tiny tube. Hopping up onto it, he found no immediate pain, but the pressure pursued heavier still; as he pulled himself over the top. Almost sliding down the other side, he hit the ground running and cleared the last jump; before making it back to the platform at the center of the course.

"Great work, Chase." Daniel commented after stopping the clock. "You're looking so much better."

"Yeah.. you even made it through the course in a _new_ record time." Marcus smiled grandly.

"_Annnd_ you made it over the catwalk _and_ the up and over just fine." Maggie smiled.

"You've been doing so much better these last few weeks." Billy grinned, his pride shining off his face like the sunlight itself. "I'm really proud of you, Chase." The man smiled warmly.

"Well.. the athletic tape has been helping." Chase replied, subconsciously placing a paw to it. "But I do feel like I'm _finally_ starting to get better again."

"How's your shoulder feel." The fire pup and paramedic in red wondered. "And _please!_ Be honest this time?" Marshall's begging eyes bore into Chase, but the German Shepherd already knew what he was gonna say.

"It.. actually feels pretty good." The pup's tone genuinely impressed. "Even _I_ can't believe how good I did today."

"Oh, good." Marshall sighed, relief washing over him. "I still wanna take a look, though. Mind lending a paw, Billy?" The Dalmatian looked to the man in question patiently.

"Can't, don't have paws…" Billy responded grinning. "But I can lend a _hand_ if that's what you need." And Marshall and the pups giggled together.

"Okay.." Marshall snickered. "That works, I guess."

"Then let's go." Billy said finally, heading for the Lookout.

_XXXX_

Maneuvering Chase's leg about, Marshall noted the wider range of motion that seemed to result; and found only a slight resistance to his touch when rolling his shoulder backward then forward.

"Any pain?" Marshall asked, lifting his eyes to meet Chase's. The pup tensed his shoulder slightly.

"More like an ache." The German Shepherd corrected, clearly a bit disturbed.

"Good, then everything's how it should be." Marshall nodded, the massive shower of satisfaction raining drops of sunshine onto him, giving off an infectious sense of relief. "It'll probably ache from time to time. But I'd say you're near completely healed."

"Thank goodness!" Chase gasped in a sigh of relief.

"Glad to hear it, pal." Marcus beamed pridefully, giving him a thumbs up.

"Yeah." Daniel agreed, with a smile of his own. "You've come a long way in the last few weeks." Boomerang and Mariana stood at a distance with Frank and Maggie; all enjoying the happy moment. Suddenly Mariana's gaze fell, developing a shadow of remorse that seemed all too personal.

"Are you alright, Mariana?" Boomerang wondered catching on to her poorly hidden distress.

"I'd like to be.. but.. I'd be lying by saying I was." The older German Shepherd admitted sadly, dropping her gaze to the ground once more. She finally lifted it to meet his to finish her unspoken thought. "Chase has grown up so much without me, that-.. I fear I barely know him."

"That may be true…" Boomerang ventured thoughtfully. "But he's still your pup.. No matter how long you've been apart.. there's still some things you may never forget about them... Even when their all grown up."

"Hm.." Mariana thought briefly. "Perhaps.." She looked back up at the group, as Billy lifted Chase and Marshall down off the table they'd been sitting up on.

"He may almost be ready for _actual_ Zoom-it training practice again." Billy stated, standing up from placing Marshall on the ground next to Chase.

"-R..really? You think so?" Chase blinked, building excitement arising to fill his eyes with a passionate hope.

"Definitely, kiddo." Billy smiled, winking at him positively.

"And that means we can start working on Zuma and Ryder for the competition too." Marcus added excitedly.

"Cool!" Chase remarked, his expression lightening more(as if it could get much lighter). "Then we can _both_ train more _together_! Maybe even run this course together!" Chase smiled, batting his friend on the shoulder and gesturing to the course still laid before them.

"You bet, dude!" Zuma barked willingly. "I'm _totally_ down for that!" The two pups shared a high five and howled their excitement to the heavens above.

**Hey guys, what up?! Another chapter finished! Love this chapter because of all the heartfelt moments here. And I hope you feel them too. So.. until next time! Thx!**


	10. Wayward Thoughts

Chapter ten: Wayward Thoughts

"Ok.. you ready?" Billy asked, taking up the Zoom-It frisbee and skillfully spinning it on the tip of his finger.

"Thought you'd _never_ ask!" Chase replied all too confidently. Billy tossed the frisbee his way and he whipped around to catch it, leaping up with a backwards momentum; landing straight down on all four paws. The pup then tossed the frisbee aside loosely, spitting it out to his right. "Come on, show me whatcha _really_ got." He teased knowingly.

"Now remember, Chase, we're gonna slowly ease you back into this, just like everything else." Marshall reminded him. "So go easy, ok?"

"Don't worry.. I got this." Chase replied easily. "I'm feeling a _lot_ better than I did before. I'll be fine."

"We'll start you out with some easy ones just to be safe." Billy decided. "Work you back up to what you were doing before."

"We'll have plenty of time to get you there too, dude!" Zuma reminded him. "The Zoom-It dog competition isn't for a few weeks."

"I know.." Chase shrugged. "So.. can we start going now?"

"Well looks like _someone's_ finally back to his old self again." Maggie joked amusingly, strolling up with Ryder, Marcus and Daniel.

"Finally." Marshall mumbled to himself. Boomerang and Mariana strode over to join them, feeling the anticipation in the air as they all found a place to sit and watch.

"Ok, we've been working with Ryder and Zuma individually, during your healing sessions." Billy explained handing a Zoom-It to Ryder. "So we'll be working with them together for today too.. to get them ready for competition as well."

"Cool! Sounds great." Chase smiled lightly, only slightly lacking his usual enthusiasm.

"Oh.. ok um.. so what do I do?" The orange seapup wondered.

"You just watch me." Chase grinned confidently, shooting the glance over to Billy.

_xxxx_

Chase and Zuma stood together on one end of the yard, and Billy and Ryder stood on the other; Chase and Billy coaching their friends through everything they did. Billy threw the Zoom-It Chase's way.. and Chase caught it easily from where he was; each of them taking time to explain tips and strategies that worked for them. Then having them try them, with varying levels of success.

_XXXX_

"Great work today, Chase." Billy commented proudly, coming off the yard and off toward the Lookout with their friends and family. "You're really comin' along again."

"I know." Chase shrugged easily. "But _Zuma's_ really starting to improve." The pup went on, turning his gaze over at the Chocolate Lab; who perked up in surprise.

"Who?.. Me? Really?" The sea pup wondered, pointing a paw to himself.

"He's right, you really _have_ been improving." Billy agreed. "No matter where you place.. You'll go great for your first time! I know it."

"Pretty soon.. I'll be back on my game!" Chase gushed, giving an excited hop, as they finally entered the Lookout doors.

"Yes, well.. don't rush it too much." Boomerang advised warmly. "We don't want to see you fall from that level all over again, now do we."

"*sigh* I know." Chase sighed deeply, his demeanor falling from his initial excitement having dampened from this statement.

"Look, Chase we're not trying to dampen your spirits.." Marshall spoke up softly. "But we do want you to remember that you're _still_ recovering, and we wanna be sure tha-"

"That I don't hurt myself again," Chase shot back hotly, raising his voice a little and cooling himself slightly afterward. "I know." He finished, quietly turning away.

"Chase." Mariana spoke up forwardly. "You do not have to take that tone here.. these are your friends.. and they only want to help you. We only wanna help you.." she came toward him to set a paw on his back, which faced them, but he immediately refused her touch.

"Except I don't _want_ that kind of help!" Chase barked, whipping around to glare at them harshly, spreading hurtful glances across the group now in front of him. The pup's hard gaze softened, and clenching his eyes closed regretfully he lowered his head to take off out the doors of the Lookout. Mariana's brown eyes followed him all the way, glazing over with a single tear dropping down her lowered nose. Marshall sat down where he stood, ears dropped, and head lowered; nearing the edge of tears himself.

"Oh Marshall." Skye whined, coming to hug close to him with the other pups.

"Ok.. now-.. everyone calm down." Frank began immediately. "We're-.." the starting of an engine began and they all looked up, Frank craning his neck around toward the door. As they all watched dumbfounded, as the large blue shape drove by and away.

"Chase?!" Mariana vocalized, taking off out the door. She stopped short as the blue police vehicle turned away from view down the hill, just as footsteps indicated the others' arrival. Her gaze hitting the floor solemnly, as she realized what had just happened.

"Perhaps. I.. should just.. go back to the farm.." She sighed, heading off to her left to the waiting vehicle belonging to the Prescotts.

"Oh, come on now, Ana." Billy interjected coming over to kneel in her path. "You know he's not just upset with you.."

"He's just going through a rough patch right now." Maggie agreed taking a step closer to him. "That's all." she shrugged.

"That's right." Ryder agreed. "He'll come back.. once he's cooled down again."

"Maybe he's going to see his PUP Pals." Skye supposed stepping around next to Mariana.

"Yeah.. perhaps." The older dog thought, lifting her gaze toward the empty drive; and Chester crept up to snuggle close to her, hoping it'd cheer her up as the others slowly left in silence.

_XXXX_

The distant hum grew louder as the forest welcomed his vehicle's purr. The ground crunched to halt it next to a tree on the fading path, killing the hum at his command. Jumping down out of the driver's seat, he caught his own foot and hit the ground. With a sigh, he sat himself up, the heavy rock in his chest weighed him down to where his head hung level with his shoulders. Closing his eyes the thoughts returned to him,.. ending abruptly with those chomping jaws. The sun, by now, had begun to sink into the distant horizon.. which felt like some kind of continuity somehow, becoming a physical mirror image to his own heart. A squawking bird flapped out over him and his truck and he ran, startled, for a short distance into the forest. Slowing to a steady walk his paws padded the ground softly, hardly giving away his presence at all; almost as if he didn't exist here at all. Still he tread on.. the sunset staining his chocolate brown and golden fur with a goldish glow all its own. The bright happiest it emanated still couldn't seem to penetrate through the thickly troubled flesh beneath the skin it illuminated, failing to lift the lowland spirit that lay within him. Reaching the ridge, he took a seat just barely at the edge of the cliff; where he could lay himself down to watch the sunset diminish its fiery light to cast ever elongating shadows across his humble homeland; thinking on all that had happened up until this point. The silence was almost so deafening it nearly hurt to listen to it.

_Why am I up here? He thought to himself. Other than hiding from my friends and family. What was I thinking?! They were only trying to help me. Even the sun can see that._

A sigh, and he leaned his head to the other paw, a heaviness beginning to creep on over him.

_Wait! I can't stay here?! Stay awake! I can't stay here tonight._

Shaking himself, he stood his front paws up as the darkness continued to grow.

_Great, the shadows are already showing up to block my path home. Better get going before I get totally lost out here._ SNAP!

_What was that?!_ He whipped around and stood on alert, a quiet rustling dying down to show no movement anywhere. Searching only with his eyes, they found nothing. A strange scent found his nose and he felt a familiarity to it that he couldn't seem to place.

"No!" He gasped at this unrecallable memory.

"Woah!" His sudden descent ended with a whip and a sting finding himself now dangling by a tension on his neck, from where the sting had originated. Bracing both paws to it to ease the sting, he attempted to pull his collar free; yet somehow, instead, he fell once more and hit rock bottom in a dizzying heap. With a groan he sat up, the wind at his neck as a trickle tickled his shoulder.

"What?"

Looking down, the dim light could not mask the small trail snaking down his right foreleg.

"Oh man!" He groaned, setting himself down to hold a paw to his neck wound for pressure.

Glancing up his eyes found the branch that had snagged him, and the top of the cliff itself.

"Great, now what?" His own voice was all he heard and as he looked down to his left, turning slightly to do so, the drop viewed the grassy forest below that lay directly beneath him; the snaking black line of a road just beyond it for a short distance.

_No way out. Perfect._ Chase thought, silently cursing himself.

Another sting and by now his wound had soaked his paw.

_So how am I gonna get out of here?_ He wondered almost becoming hopeless in the moment. His defeated glance closed, then opened again at the characteristic crack that sounded and inevitable drop; releasing a cry from his throat that he'd almost hoped could reach the Lookout!

_XXXX_

"He's been gone a long time." Rocky stated peering out from the open door, then coming back over to the group inside.

"The Prescotts told us to let them know when he gets back." Ryder said, laying back against the beanbag; flatly sprawled out. "So we may have to stay awake until he does."

"_If_ he does." Marshall mumbled to himself.

"What was that Marshall?" Ryder spoke up bringing him to attention.

"You don't think Chase will come back?" Rocky questioned hurtfully.

"-eh..- no, I mean... I'm.. kind of afraid he won't show up until tomorrow." The Dalmatian admitted sheepishly.

"Why? Chase wouldn't stay out there alone all night..." Skye said. "Would he?" She wondered a moment later, glancing quizzically back at Ryder; who shrugged innocently.

_XXXX_

The rocks must've hit the ground, cause Chase was suddenly thrust forward onto his right shoulder tumbling over it to sprawl flat on the ground. Grimacing, Chase's paw found his shoulder quickly, the sting of his new wound and the ache of his old wound colliding to create the perfect storm as a result of his fall.

_Ok.. so I'm down.. now what?_ He wondered holding pressure once again.

_I can't wait around here for help._ He thought, looking down at the wet paw holding his neck once again.

_Better get walking if I'm gonna make it back to my truck to drive it home._

A step forward brought on some more of that nagging ache.

_Guess I REALLY better get moving.. before I start to hurt so much, I can barely move._

Racing off maintained that ache, but a ticking clock in his mind begged him to keep going.

_XXXX_

"Ohhh I can't _wait_ any longer." Skye whined. "Ryder, Chase should've at _least_ checked in by now. We've gotta make sure he's okay."

"Hmm.. maybe you're right." Ryder decided finally. "I'll see if I can call his pup-tag.. if he'll answer it, that is." The last part of his statement, as you would expect, was a little hesitant.. and maybe a little sad. Taking out his pup-pad, he flipped to the right icon and began the call.

"Chase? Hello? Are you there? Come in." But all that returned was static and silence.

"That's weird." Ryder said, scratching his head. "He should've at _least_ shown up on my screen."

"What?! What'do you think that could mean, Ryder?" Skye wondered quickly.

"That's impossible!" Marshall cried, uncertainty crossing his face a moment later. "Unless…"

"Unless what Marshall?" Rocky asked, fearing what he'd say.

"Unless.. what if Chase.. isn't where his pup-tag is?" The Dalmatian wondered regretfully.

"What?!" The pups gasped.

"Think about it guys.." Marshall reiterated. "If Chase can't get to his pup-tag for some reason, it would explain why he didn't answer it."

"Unless he's just ignoring it on purpose." Zuma mumble sadly.

"Come on, Zuma.." Rubble interjected. "Chase wouldn't ignore our calls.. would he?"

A glance at Ryder and the boy shrugged once more.

"I hope not." He said. "But I think you're right.. we _have_ to find him and make sure he's ok."

"Ok.." Rubble shrugged. "So where do we start?"

"By fanning out, and think about where he might have gone." Ryder replied, rising from his seat. "I'll call Katie and Mayor Goodway to see if either of them have seen him, but otherwise we're on our own in finding him."

"Ok Ryder.." Marshall sighed, his head lowered sadly. "Then I guess we better get started."

_XXXX_

"Ahn!" Tripping over an exposed root didn't help his wound any, and his stinging one added an extra layer to it with the swift movement.

_Gotta.. get.. home.._ he panted in his mind, finding it amazing in the moment that he could think like that. Rising to trudge on, his paws crunched the ground.

"Ouch!" Lifting a paw, the sharpness of the sticks under them remained where they were.

_Gotta be more careful! Can't get hurt again. I can't!_ The sun, by now was long gone and the night had fully ensued, so creeping through the darkness brought on a new kind of eeriness to the already unsettling silence.

**Hey guys! Here's a new chapter.. FINALLY! Oh my gosh, I've been getting behind on my fanfic writing! Severe apologies for that alone. But all things aside, I wanna thank you guys for sticking with it and reading on! I know I've kinda been devoid for a few months now and my only explanation for that is.. well.. life. And I've been working on the process toward publishing my first book; which is nearing the final stage. Hopefully, then, I'll be able to work more on fanfics to finish some of them up for new stories and to work towards my next book. Which will technically be going through an entire re-edit for many different reasons. Either way though this chapter, as you can see, has taken a turn. Where will it lead us?... You'll have to find out next chapter,... and with that.. I'll see you next time! Thx!**


	11. Night Ride

Chapter eleven: Night Ride

"Oh no!" Katie gasped.

"Oh, this is just terrible!" Mayor Goodway whined.

"Do you have _any_ idea of where he could've gone?" Katie wondered on her side of the divided screen.

"Not a one.." Ryder admitted sadly. "That's why we were hoping maybe one of _you_ might've seen him."

"Oh.. well I'm afraid I haven't." Mayor Goodway replied unfortunately.

"Me neither, Ryder." Katie sighed, regretting to say so. "But we'd be willing to come help you look, we could ask around."

"Thanks Katie, but-.. the PAW Patrol is better equipped to handle this. We'll let you know if we do need your help though."

"Ok, Ryder." Katie nodded. "And.. maybe let me know when you find him?"

"Sure thing.. Thanks anyway." Ryder smiled, then they all hung up together. "Ok pups, we're on our own from here. No one has seen Chase around so who knows where he's gone."

"Well why not the woods or Jake's mountain?" Marshall suggested flatly. "We know it's quiet out there and barely anyone is out there. If Chase wanted to be alone.. I'd think that'd be where he'd go."

"Good thinking, Marshall." Ryder beamed, pointing to him proudly. "We'll go there first.. then fan out and search."

"But it's _soo_ dark out there." Skye realized. "How will we find our way around out there?"

"By leaving our paw patrol spotlight on to guide us back to the Lookout at the _very_ least.. _annd_…" the boy took off for them to follow.

_xxxx_

"Using these collar lights that I've been working on." Ryder finished, taking up one of these lights and snapping it onto Skye's collar easily. "This'll give you pups a light that you can use to search for things in the dark.. when Chase's floodlight isn't available to us." Going down the line, he secured each light, so that they hung next to their pup-tags.

"Cool!" Zuma gushed, in his usually smooth tone.

"Just bark them on like you would your other gear." Ryder said.

"Ruff! Light!" The pups barked together, flashing them on in unison.

"Nice! Ryder, you _always_ come up with the coolest stuff." Rocky smirked, earning a few giggles from the group, and the boy in particular.

"Heh heh, alright.. now let's go find Chase." He said finally, racing back out of his workshop and into the elevator.

_XXXX_

"Ah!" Another bout of rustling put him on edge once more, creeping around it, he took off in a blind sprint; hoping and praying that it would not follow him. Clenching his eyes closed as he ran the echoes of snapping leather and growls lingered; all ended by a sudden jolt forward. Falling forward onto his chest, his body fell flat soon afterwards and he sighed to recover himself from the rush. Rising slowly, he could feel the ache increase more, but the bleeding appeared lesser now; either because it had begun to dry along the original stream down his leg or had just begun to stop on its own. Hearing the distant moan again, he perked up and dove into a shadow, which fell away and he tumbled rather then slid. Eyes open again, they searched up as he lifted himself up off the ground once more.

"No wall?" Chase realized now. "Just a.. cave?" _Wait.. this is the cave that me and Jake found and explored, when he got his foot stuck and I had to call the PAW Patrol to help me get him out._ A howl sounded and he couldn't tell if it were coming from the cave's mouth or it's throat. Either way this sound, he decided, was merely the wind whistling through wherever it was coming from. Heaviness seemed to fall upon him in the moment with a heavy yawn.

_Oh great, perfect timing as usual._ A light groan and the pup edged into the soft darkness.

_xxxx_

"Ok, pups.." Ryder began slowly, the whole PAW Patrol on route to where the city fell away and the forest took over. "If we were a sad, upset German Shepherd pup,.. Where would we hide?"

"Probably in a cave somewhere." Skye mumbled dryly for the other pups to subtly hear.

"That might _actually_ be good thinking, Skye." Ryder thought catching her comment anyway. "And I think we have a pup that can help us with that.."

_XXXX_

"Here's your hot cocoa, Everest!" Jake announced, entering the main room and pouring the warm chocolatey beverage into the teal colored bowl, fashioned with snowflakes.

"Thanks, Jake, smells great!" The husky bent down to drink when a flash at her neck drew her head back up again.

"Everest? Come in!"

"Hi Ryder! What's up?" Everest greeted brightly.

"Everest, Chase got upset and took off without us." Ryder told her sadly. "We think he might've come out here to the forest around Jake's Mountain to be alone, but there's been no sign _or_ contact with him since then. We're looking now, but the darkness is making it difficult. And we think he may have found a cave to hide it. I need you and your mountain knowledge to help us figure out which one he might be hiding in."

"No problem. I'm sure I can help you find Chase. It shouldn't be that difficult. Do you have any idea what part of the mountain he was on? That might help us narrow down where he could be."

"We're not sure yet,.." the boy shook his head. "I'll send Skye out now. If we can find his truck we can meet there. I'm sending you our current location for you to keep on your radar. We'll meet up as soon as we can."

"Copy that Ryder, I'm on my way! Ice or snow I'm ready to go!" Then the husky turned back to Jake after ending her call.

"I'll.. keep it warm ya,.." Jake implied picking up the bowl. "For when you get back." Then winking at her, he headed back into the kitchen and Everest slipped through the doggy door into the night.

_XXXX_

"Skye, fly out ahead and see if you can find Chase's truck. Maybe that'll help us figure out where he might have gone.

"I saw tire treads begin as soon as he started on this path." Rocky recalled. "And the path ends not far from here. If Chase came this way.. he can't have gone too far."

"Hoh,.. um.." the Cockapoo pilot whined, peering around anxiously. "Wait! Rocky's right! And look!.. Chase's truck! He is here.. but-.. I don't see _Chase_ anywhere."

"It's ok, Skye." Ryder reasoned. "At least we know he was here. And may come back on his own, if we don't find him first. Show us the way."

_XXXX_

Tires crunched the earth beneath it and the caterpillar tracks of the teal and white snowcat halted their movement.

"Glad you could make it, Everest." Ryder beamed as the husky hopped forward down of her rig toward them, still perched on their own.

"I'd never miss out on something this important, especially with Chase missing and upset,.. and probably scared by now. Luckily I know a few caves we can try that are around here. But we should be able to figure out which one by tracking him."

"Good plan." Ryder agreed. "Skye, keep a look out!"

"You got it, Ryder." The pilot pup replied, taking to the air once again.

"The rest of you pups can fan out from here and search, in case Chase _isn't_ hiding. But don't wander too far without knowing how to get back. We don't want anyone _else_ to get lost out here."

"You got it!" The pups responded heading off in different directions.

"Lead the way, Everest." Ryder announced, pointing a flat hand horizontally forward; revving his ATV to life.

"Off the trail, Everest won't fail!" The husky barked, and their vehicles skidded forward into the trees.

_XXXX_

"This is as far as our vehicles and go, Ryder." Everest announced, halting her vehicle and hopping down off of it to land right in front of where it stood.

"Ok, then we hike from here." Ryder decided, taking off his helmet and starting off after the mountain pup. The husky's nose touched the ground and a scent appeared to her, writing unseen prints in the direction the scent led; egging her to continue on.

"This scent is familiar.." Everest commentated thoughtfully, lifting her head slightly before lowering it to sniff some more. "It might lead us straight to him!"

"Right behind you, Everest. Let's keep going!" Ryder confirmed, jogging onward.

_XXXX_

Everest's shiny black nose searched until the trail dropped off completely,.. quite literally.

"Weird.. the trail just ends here, Ryder." The pup said, pointing to the spot in which she stood.

"Well Chase couldn't have just disappeared.." Ryder reasoned, shielding his eyes to search more thoroughly; when a recollection brought up a thought that almost scared him.

"Could he?" Peering down over the edge his eyes squinted in the darkness that lay below.

"Hey wait!.. is that.. fallen rocks! Chase was _definitely_ here." Ryder decided now. "And somehow he managed to get all the way down _there_ from way up _here_?"

"That's a pretty big drop.. I hope he's ok. There's no _way_ he could've gotten out of that without a scratch.." Everest reasoned. And to that Ryder reached for his pup-pad.

"Pups, we think Chase may have fallen off the side of the cliff and he may be hurt.. so we need to try extra hard in finding him in case that's true so we can help him as soon as we can. Marshall, I need you to go back to the Lookout to get your medical gear just to be sure we can assess and treat him immediately."

"You got it, Ryder!" The Dalmatian's voice came back.

"There's a quick way to get down there." Everest vocalized turning to Ryder once more. "Come on!" Then taking off again, she led him off on another path down the right side of the ridge.

_XXXX_

_Oh man not again!_ Marshall thought tearing back over to his fire truck and diving into it. _We've already had his struggles with being hurt.. and now he may have to go through it again?! When will it end!_ Lights and sirens blaring, his tires squealed and he was off and running again.

_XXXX_

"Here it is!" Everest barked, screeching to a stop at the base of the ridge where the rubble lay scattered. Ryder scanned the area with a flashlight in hand, while Everest sniffed about some more. The boy knelt down to the rocks as if hoping to see something in them to give any indicator of what they were desiring to know.

"Hey look at this!" Everest cried, causing the boy to look up and rise to join her a short distance away. Shining the light onto a spot on the ground, the red hue of it jumped out at them; waving flags of the same color in their minds as they exchanged a look and tread after the spotty trail left in their midst.

_XXXX_

"He's gotta be here somewhere!" Everest panted. "Wait! *sniff, sniff* his scent is getting stronger! We've _gotta_ be getting close!"

"Then let's keep going!" Ryder decided, racing on after the husky. The forest finally opened up and another ridge rose up to meet them.

"Of course Chase would come up here.. he was probably trying to get back up the ridge to where he started." Everest guessed, turning to Ryder with a steadily wagging tail.

"You're probably right." The boy concurred, nodding. "So where to next?" The husky sniffed around for another brief moment.

"Into that cave." Everest reported, pointing a paw down the dark hole in the wall.

"Then let's go." Ryder decided. The boy hadn't made it very far in when Everest hopped forward to follow; but stopped short once more due to a rising feeling that put her ears on alert.

"Ryder, wait!" The husky called, earning her his attention. "Do you hear that?" The boy stood still, facing her, to listen; when something dropped at his feet.

"Rocks?" Ryder vocalized quizzically.

"Oh no.. Ryder, look out!" Everest's warning call was in vain, as more rocks fell blocking his path of escape and soon a cloud was stirred up to cause them both to cough. A couple more coughs and Everest carefully peeled her eyes open.

"Ryder? Are you ok?.. Ryder?" She called, hoping to hear his voice return from the pile of rubble that now stood in her way.

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter! Just another twist to add to an already complex storyline. Hope you find it intriguing and are excited that much more for what comes next. Enjoy! Thx!**


	12. Help!

Chapter twelve: Help!

Air returned to his body as he lay on his back, with the world fuzzing back to him; after losing only a second that he'd never know he lost. Heavily sitting up, the boy found no light to escape through what he found _used_ to be the exit, blocked with a lumpy darkness very different from the rest of the cave.

"Oh no.." Ryder breathed, rising to come forward towards rubble quickly. "Everest?! Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Ryder! You're ok!" The husky's voice returned relieved. "Are you alright?.. other than being trapped in there?"

"I'm fine.." the boy returned. "For now.." he finished, turning slightly away from the rock-covered entrance, then pulled out his pup-pad. Pressing even one icon, the screen pixelated black and gray; hissing with no signal whatsoever. "My pup-pad won't receive a signal in here." Ryder sighed, then looked up. "You'll have to call the pups on your pup-tag, so they can locate you here to help get me out."

"Great idea!" Everest barked. "Arf, Arf, pups! We need help!"

"Uh-.. why? -Did you find Chase?" Marshall's voice asked hopefully.

"Ehh-.. no.. uh not yet." Everest sighed. "But now Ryder's trapped inside a cave that we tracked Chase to. He may be nearby, but.. one thing's for sure.. we _need_ to help Ryder; before the tunnel caves in even more."

"Ok, we're on our way!" Skye called.

"Just hang in there, Ryder.." Everest called when dropping the call. "The pups are on their way!"

Ryder then nodded with a feeling of satisfaction, even despite knowing the pup could not see it.

"Ryder?" A soft raspy voice he knew drew his eyes immediately down to where the cave continued, as a small shape and brown eyes peered out and creeped toward him sheepishly.

"Chase! You're ok!" The boy gasped, receiving the pup onto his lap as the pup pressed himself up against him thankfully.

"What's that Ryder?!" Everest called, responding to the muffle of voices she'd heard through the rubble.

"Uh-.. nothing, Everest." Ryder called back. "But you were right! Chase _is_ here! And he's safe."

"Really?! Wah-hoo! We did it!" The husky cheered.

"Now all we have to do is get the other pups to help us get out." Rock crumbled and a small amount more slid into the block doorway. Ryder adjusted his position uneasily, holding Chase tighter.

"We're ok, Chase." The boy said, hoping to comfort him. "These walls are unstable. We should head further into the cave where it's safer."

Sending Chase in forward, the boy crawled after him a short distance before rising to walk with him.

"So what were you doing out here, Chase?" The boy wondered, searching and finding the pup earnestly in the darkness. "It seems you've been all over.. and barely in a night."

"I..uh.. never should've left in the first place." The pup sighed sheepishly.

"But why _did_ you?" Ryder wondered halting their stroll in the moment. "I mean I know _why_ you did, but.. do _you_ know?"

"Then why are you asking me that?" Chase wondered, cocking his head curiously.

"Because I wanna know that you know why you did what you did." Ryder answered earnestly.

"*sigh* I know." Chase confirmed with a sigh, sitting where he stood.

"But then what happened out here?" Ryder asked, kneeling down to place a hand on his right shoulder. Only to discover a stickiness that felt immediately unpleasant, and he lifted his hand to shake it off.

"Sorry,.." Chase apologized upon noticing Ryder's slightly disgusted reaction. "But it's nothing.. really." He finished this just as Ryder pulled out his flashlight and flicked it on. The red hue suddenly flashed chills across his skin, then panning the light over to Chase he found the source by running the light up to his shoulder.

"Oh no,.. Chase." The boy sighed, lowering himself to his knees and reaching a hand over to him.

"Uh-..it's ok." Chase replied lifting a paw up to his hand and placing it to the boy's open palm; then sliding it around to his wrist as Ryder's hand touched his cheek. "I'll be ok.. once we get out of here and go home." Ryder scratched the top of his pup's head, successfully earning him a smile from the pup; as they hugged close once again.

"So how ya feeling otherwise?" Ryder asked next, hinting very clearly at something Chase knew immediately.

"Ok I guess.." the pup shrugged. "Aches a little, I'll be alright once we get home again." A yawn and Ryder could easily tell why, even in the darkness that surrounded them.

"And I bet you're a little sleepy from running around out here all night." The boy guessed, cuddling the German Shepherd close.

"Yeah.. maybe a little. *sniff* I'm sorry for running away.." The pup apologized regretfully. "I didn't know what else to do! I.. I wasn't very nice to you.. or my mom. I know I shouldn't get so upset.. but I.. just can't help it and.. I.. I.. *heavy sigh* I know I'm not.. exactly handling this all very well."

"Hey, it's ok." Ryder said, hugging his pup closer. "We know you're under a lot of pressure because of all you've been through. But let's try to do better about dealing with it.. ok?"

"You _got_ it." Chase confirmed, snuggling up to him once more, when a pounding drew their attention up.

"What _is_ that?!" Chase wondered, leaning into Ryder a bit nervously.

"I don't know." The boy said, getting to his feet again. "But I think it's.. ahh!"

"Ryder?!" Chase exclaimed, stepping toward him. Dirt, dust and rocks came upon them, the two coughing once again; finding the air to be heavy with the dryness of the earth and rock that surrounded them.

"Come on.." Ryder groaned between coughs. "Gotta.. get.. to the.. mouth.. of the cave.." staggering forward up the small incline more dust clouds burst, the thumping of stones keeping them on alert dodging any that fell and came rolling underfoot. Chase spluttered and pushed on, Ryder's red and blue jacket acting as his guide. Suddenly that jacket disappeared and a loud thump clued him in.

"Ryder?!" Chase cried, bounding forward blindly. He somehow found the boy, discovering him lying face down on the floor, his right cheek to the ground. No evidence of injury yet no sign of consciousness either. The pounding continued and more stuff fell.

"No,.. no, no! Ryder!" Chase whined stepping around him. "What have I done! Ryder?!.. Ryder!... RYDER!" Chase's voice must've echoed louder than he had thought 'cause at that very moment the pups outside froze.

"Did you hear that?!" Skye gasped.

"It sounded like Chase.." Zuma agreed glancing around at the group.

"What's going on in there?" Rocky wondered.

"Well let's find out by clearing away these rocks." Marshall reminded them, trying to roll one away once again. The work continued as Chase fumbled around Ryder, panicking profusely.

Flattening his ears to slid his head under the boy's arm, he used what little strength he had to flip Ryder over onto his back; falling over him as soon as this action was made. Chase tapped his nose to the boy's cheek, then proceeding to lick it to try and rouse him awake.

"Oh,.. come on.." Chase cried, whining and groaning at the same time. "Wake up!" More rubble fell down over him, small stones and dust falling upon his brown coat turning it a more dusty shade. Chase stepped away from Ryder as another clump of earth fell and shattered at his feet between them. A cloud rose up from the blocked entrance, as when he looked up to notice it.

"Oh no.." Chase breathed, then taking the collar of Ryder's jacket he began to tug with all the might and fight he had left, dragging the boy ever so slowly towards the crumbling entrance.

_We can't stay trapped in here like this.._ he thought. _We CAN'T!_ Tears stung his eyes as his heart, he felt, began to grow heavy. His strength failed him, as Ryder seemed to cease moving and his own legs began to shake.

"..no.." Chase seethed, through the material in his mouth. "..I can't give up!..*pant*pant* I can't!" By now, streams had made their way down his face and he clenched his eyes closed to pull with every last ounce he may have had, when suddenly a rush of fresh air hit him and he found he could breathe again; losing his grip on Ryder to fall backwards with a gasp.

A White head coated with puffy spots peered in with his bright red helmet and gear.

"Chase! You're ok!" The Dalmatian cried. Chase's paw lowered, having shielded his eyes from the bright light, and revealed the deep red and purplish line smudged into his foreleg; Ryder still lying at his feet.

"Oh no,.. Chase!" Marshall whined coming closer to inspect him more thoroughly.

"Don't _worry_ about me." Chase emphasized scooting away from him. "Worry about Ryder.. he's out cold and I don't know why and it's all my fault!"

"Take it easy, Chase.." Marshall soothed with the development of a low collected voice. "We'll figure this out."

Chase stepped back once Everest and Marshall came in to grab a hold of Ryder's jacket to pull him the rest of the way out into the fresh air of the moonlit night. Marshall sniffed around for a moment, snuffling the boy's still face, noting the lack of scuff marks or bruises. Laying an ear to his chest, he listened in silence; his eyes popping wide with a smile. Standing so his front paws were on top of Ryder, he shook the boy awake; who finally began to cough and open his eyes with a light groan. Chase stepped about anxiously where he stood, daring himself to come closer.

"But then.. what happened back there?" The pup wondered distraughtly.

"He must've just passed out from lack of breathable air. The rocks being unsettled must've kicked up enough dust that Ryder couldn't breathe very well in it.

"But then why didn't _I_ pass out?" Chase wondered. Marshall opened his mouth to respond, but Ryder's groan filled the silent void before his words could.

"What happened." Ryder breathed, finding the sky above him.

"You passed out inside the cave." Marshall answered. "Probably from the dust during the rescue, but you'll be ok."

"Oh,.. good." Ryder sighed, now sitting upright loosely. "Thanks, Marshall." Ryder gave the pup a scratch, then his eyes panned over to Chase on his right side, and he could see his sheepish glance focused away from him; as he rubbed his own shoulder.

"We need to get Chase home, pups." The young leader began again. "He's had _more_ than enough excitement for one night."

"Right... after we assess this wound." Marshall decided, shining his light on him to squint for a better view of the brownish-red stripe's origin.

"We can better assess it where there's more light." Ryder said, then flipping the screen on his pup-pad the face he wanted to see became visible.

_XXXX_

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright, Chase!" Katie sighed, upon seeing Ryder and the PAW Patrol enter. Hurrying over to them she immediately knelt down to hug the German Shepherd close.

"Sorry.." Chase apologized, his gaze lowering after the embrace ended. "You might not wanna touch me cause I..uh.. got a little dirty out there."

"That's why you're here isn't it?" Katie implied, meeting Ryder's gaze.

"*yawn*.. remind me what that is again?" Chase wondered after the heaviness of a yawn came and went. Walking his paws forward to lay down his head rested on them and he yawned once more.

"Hang on, Chase. Wake up." Marshall coaxed, nudging him awake once again, forcing the pup to look up. "We need to clean you up so we can help that wound heal properly, and it doesn't get infected. And so we can see just how bad it is." Blinking heavily, Chase groaned and forced his shoulders up to stand and drowsily stumble forward, being caught in someone's grasp that lifted him up off the ground.

"Don't worry, Chase." Katie said, holding him carefully in her arms. "This shouldn't take long at all." Then carrying him over to the line of tubs they found that one had been filled and Katie immediately set Chase into it, so his front paws perch on the edge of it with his head laid over them. Taking her brushes and beginning to scrub, Chase's eyes remained closed and he almost appeared to be asleep in the moment. His brows and head would shift and change every so often in response to the girl's work, but otherwise the young German Shepherd stayed silent as could be. Only when he was taken out of the bath, and wrapped in a fuzzy blue towel, did he rouse from the cold transition.

_XXXX_

Draped over a shoulder, head rested upon it,.. the dark night fell upon him again. But not even a realization coming, nor an acknowledgement of this fact from the little brown police pup. A deep yawn and Ryder smirked,.. then to finish off the night with the roar of engines fading into the darkness toward the winding incline awaiting their return.

**Hey what's up! Another chapter, coming in hot! Man got pretty easy to finish this chapter. Hopefully that'll continue towards its completion(whenever that is XD). Anyway.. enjoy this next part and I'll see you next time.. Thx!**


	13. Memories

Chapter thirteen: Memories

Eyes heavy with sleep, and tightening from dreaming, a stiff body shifted.

"Hah!" Awake in a moment, his head lowering with the heavy weight that was placed upon it in the eye of his imagination.

"Ugh.. *yawn*" this deep yawn led into Chase lying down again, to bury his face into his paws and rubbing them tightly.

"Sleep well, Chase?" Cocking his head over, one brown eye peered up to find Ryder standing over him, with his trademark grin to match the sunshine outside.

"Uhhnn.. honestly.. I'm kinda.. wishing I _wasn't_ awake right now." The pup groaned, leaning his head back into his paws to cover his face with another groan.

"You can always rest some more if you want." Ryder shrugged. "No one said you _have_ to get up yet." A yawn himself and he continued. "We're all kinda tired from last night."

"Yeah.. all thanks to me." Chase sighed, his tone flattening at his gaze dropped, having looked up at hearing the yawn that wasn't his own.

"Maybe.." the boy shrugged loosely. "But.. it's ok." He finished, taking the pup up and lying back on a beanbag with his beloved police pup sprawled against his chest. "We all know you're struggling a little right now.. and.. we know that you need time to deal with it. As long as you remember that we're here for you.. there's no reason to feel ashamed for last night."

Chase sighed, lowering his head. "I know." He said, setting his head down onto his paws on Ryder's chest.

"I don't wanna be awake right now." Chase moaned after a silence fell over them.

"Then, I think, _this_ will make it so you don't have to." Ryder said, dropping a blanket up over the pup's head only leaving his muzzle exposed. The heaviness of the blanket, while thin and light, still encouraged the heaviness of his eyes to return and suddenly his thoughts faded once again. The boy soon following unbeknownst to both of them until they would wake again..

_XXXX_

The blanket rose up again with a rounded shape, falling away to fully expose the German Shepherd's head.

"Huh?" Glancing around, the room was silent and no person or pup could be seen there. Looking down Ryder was still fast asleep, but glancing around once more then down at him, he found a dustier version of him beneath his very paws. _Finding this to be a shock he swiftly skooched back slightly from him, when suddenly the darkness around them pulled Ryder out from under him up off of the beanbag that remained, as Chase was dropped off into a free fall away from him. The wind that rose up on him from his back ended with hitting rock bottom face up, so that he could look straight up at the only light, which shone down on him like a spotlight. Rolling onto his paws, he gazed about the thick shadows around him, hoping to find something that could be an indicator of something he wasn't sure of in the moment. Suddenly the pair of glowing red eyes opened eye-level with him, then lurched forward with only a moment's pause…_

_xxxx_

"Ah!" Thrusting himself up off his right shoulder he realized the mistake it was to jerk up. As his body popped and cracked away the stiffness to almost make it all worth it, except for the lingering ache and sting of the two separate injuries that remained there. The soft blanket, which had fallen down to his shoulders, comforted him, and strangely enough, felt heavier than he remembered. Then finding it to be the same blanket, he noticed how it had been covered with a thicker one to keep him somewhat swaddled in the two blankets together in a make-shift sleeping bag made with the folds the blankets alone. The sun by now had disappeared; hanging so high in the sky, he couldn't see it from where he was. Then hearing the munching and smacking of dining pups, he jumped up in surprise, and tore out the door blazing from his thick nest of covers in a flash. Bursting out the door and sliding into a right-hand turn, he tripped over his own paws rushing forward and fell over a certain spotted pup in a fire red vest; crashing in a heap on the ground beside him on the other side.

"I overslept! Why didn't you wake me!" Chase cried, questioning the line pups all staring back at him from their bowls brightly.

"You needed to rest after your adventure last night." Marshall answered easily, when recovering himself. "We weren't gonna wake you up just because you are _usually_ awake by now."

"Besides.. from the sound of it.. you didn't wanna get up earlier anyway." Skye recalled, glancing at Ryder briefly; just beyond where Chase stood.

"Well.. yeah,.. cause it _was_ too early in the morning at that time.. but twelve o'clock in the afternoon?! _Way_ too late,.. even for me." Chase protested while shaking his head.

"Chase relax.. you're getting a little too worked up about all this.." Marshall soothed, turning to face his friend while a couple of the pups resumed eating; Rubble obviously one among them.

"W..what'do you mean?" Chase questioned, with the arch of an eyebrow.

"Well your ears are twitching, but yet your tail's wagging.." the Dalmatian pointed out. "Are you ok?"

Chase's gaze wandered down as he mentally observed himself for a moment. Meeting Marshall's gaze then quickly dropping it as a result.

"No..I..um.. *sigh*.. I can't sleep til almost noon, ok." Chase sighed finally, finding his calm demeanor once again.

"Chase,.. you needed that rest." Marshall reiterated, coming to stand face to face with him. "You _literally_ fell asleep while Katie was washing you off last night.. and Ryder had to hold you, in order for us to clean and dress your wound."

"What're you talking about.. I-.." Chase froze,.. finally realizing the different feeling at his collar, and rushed out around the pups to the bowl of water standing next to Rocky's pup-house; peering into it to view his own reflection. The white that he found poking out, though, stuck out to him immediately.

"No.. no, no, no, no, n-n-no! This can't be happening! No!.. what?! Ugh.. this isn't gonna work.." the pup complained, seemingly to himself.

"Chase,.. _what_ is wrong." Marshall asked him in forwardly exasperated tones. "You got hurt last night and we needed to take care of it."

"No! Don't you get it!.." Chase whined, meeting his gaze abruptly. "I've already worried my mom and the Prescotts enough with what I did yesterday.. and now I'll have to explain how I got hurt.. _all over again_." Lifting a paw to it, he scratched as though an itch had suddenly developed underneath the bandage, which covered the scratch it was meant to protect. "She worries enough about me as it is." He finished, setting his paw down and lowering his head at the same time with a sigh.

"But.. shouldn't that be kind of a.. good thing." Rubble wondered slowly.

"No.." Chase replied heavily,.. hesitating a moment later. "Well.. I don't know.. maybe? *sigh* It's complicated."

"Doesn't sound like it to me." Marshall contradicted. "I mean.. usually if someone is worried about you, it means they care about you very much."

"That's right,.. and it's no secret that Mariana truly loves you." Ryder added. "Sounds like she hasn't been the same since you disappeared from your old hometown all those years ago."

"Which is why.. you should tell her honestly what happened." Rocky put it, coming closer to his friend's side. "She deserves to know what happened since she spent all night wondering if you were ok."

"But then why does she have to know? Why does _anyone_ have to know, if they see that I'm ok?" Chase protested. "If all that matters is that I'm safe,.. what does it matter what happened at all."

"Chase, what's wrong with you?" Marshall questioned, successfully masking _most_ of his surprise. "You know you should _always_ tell the truth."

"*sigh*.. Yeah.." He sighed in an uncertain reluctance they'd never heard from him as his gaze wandered away from them sheepishly.

"Come on, Chase.." Rubble spoke up after a time. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think it will."

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll understand." Rocky agreed. But at this, Chase's frown turned away as his ears flattened about halfway.

"Shouldn't they be here by now anyway?" He wondered in a dry manner.

"Nope.. they told me this morning that they couldn't come til later this afternoon." Ryder replied. "Something came up on their farm outside of town."

"Oh,.. ok.." then Chase wandered off toward the Lookout, head lowered distraughtly as the pups exchanged glances.

_XXXX_

_For such a small room, it can get pretty messy pretty quickly._ Picking up the blanket draped over the beanbag left on the top floor of the Lookout, Ryder carefully folded it and set it neatly on top of the beanbag. Though he wore a smile on his face the whole time.. a nagging thought still clung to the back of his mind; attempting to finger its way forward all the while. _It's not like him to act this way.._ the boy thought. _Then again.. there was at least **one** time that that wasn't the case…_

_xxxx_

_A small golden paw disrupted the dust that lay there. A grunt and the pup it belonged to was able to pull himself up to the higher elevation he was reaching for; only to prepare to do it again._

_"Ih-.. almost.. there.." Chase comentated through the strain._

_"Are you sure this is a good idea Chase?" His spotted companion wondered from the ground. "I mean,.. that doesn't look all that safe."_

_"Relax,.." the young German Shepherd pup replied, pulling himself up one box higher. "I got this.. and I'm being careful. See?" At this moment though, his back paw slipped and he scrambled to grab a hold of the box in front of him, catching the edge of it just right to bring it down with him. Marshall jumped back as Chase free-falled while the box fell open on top of him, a shatter following the crash._

_"Chase are you ok?!" Marshall cried, racing over to the box as Chase pushed it off of him, buried in the innards of the white packing materials._

_Seething with a painful squirm, he covered his right foreleg with his other paw and grimaced sharply. Marshall's eyes hit the ground from his friend's face, and the redness that soaked his golden fur clued him in on the reason._

_"Oh, Chase.." the Dalmatian gasped. "-See- I **told** you this wasn't such a good idea. There's nothing that important to risk your neck to reach. We should've just asked Ryder for help, now I need to get him and tell him what happened."_

_"What?! No way! You can't tell him.." Chase protested, rising quickly, with a slight grunt, squinting with one eye at the sting. "We can fix it.. he doesn't have to know about this. We can handle it."_

_"Are you nuts?!" Marshall cried. "You said you could handle climbing those boxes to reach the one on the shelf behind it, and yet you fell. But something glass just broke and cut you so that now you're bleeding... And you think we can just.. clean this up and pretend it didn't happen? How do you think we can cover up something like this, before Ryder finds out about it? That wound needs to be properly cared for and it's not like Ryder's not gonna notice it."_

_"We can just say I got it when we were exploring.." Chase reasoned, as Marshall reluctantly came alongside him for support. "We've gotten plenty of scratches that way before."_

_"True,.. but this is a whole other thing." Marshall countered certainly. "You cut yourself on glass.. and who knows if pieces were left inside the wound. We can't risk that being the case and causing more damage. Plus.. it could get infected."_

_"Oh, come on Marshall." Chase begged, sitting down against the line of shelving away from the mess they'd created. "Ryder just started letting us go over to Katie's by ourselves.. If he finds out we tried to handle this ourselves and failed.. He'll watch us like a hawk for like.. **ever**, before he starts letting us go out **anywhere** on our own again."_

_"Relax Chase.." Marshall sighed, rolling his eyes dryly. "I'm sure Ryder won't be that mad, as long as we tell him what happened right away."_

_"Ha,.. easy for you to say.." Chase snapped just as dryly. "You're not the one it happened to."_

_"Hey, I'm still just as hosed as you are." Marshall countered, turning to his friend squarely. "I should've stopped you.. and then I should've gotten Ryder as soon as you started climbing those boxes to get up there."_

_The doors opened and they looked up at hearing:..._

_"What is going on here?!"_

_'Shoot, it's Ryder!' the two pups collectively thought. The younger aged boy stood awestruck at the mess laid before him, and his two pups sitting nearby it, with subtly crimson painted paws,.. Chase trying to casually conceal his wound._

_"What happened here, pups?" Ryder asked again, looking at them quizzically._

_"Uh.. well.." the two responded, their gazes wandering away from the boy's glance guiltily. Ryder's brow arched, and Marshall's gaze dropped to his paws, as he bit his lip._

_"Chase fell!" the Dalmatian blurted out finally, earning both Ryder's and Chase's shocked expressions. "I tried to stop him, but-.. he wanted to show me something and.. tried to get it off the top shelf himself." Ryder's glance then settled on Chase and the pup became instantly sheepish._

_"I..um..well..um.." the pup stammered, backing away slowly, to come into contact with the shelf behind him. "Uh.." he mused finding he had nowhere to go now, as Ryder advanced toward him with a stoic expression._

_"Chase, why didn't you come ask me for help?" The boy asked kneeling down to him to place a hand on his head softly._

_"Because I-.." Chase trailed off, sliding away from the boy's touch, then slowly freezing in choosing his words. "..I thought I could do it by myself." The pup finally admitted, turning his eyes up to Ryder in regret._

_"And now?" the boy wondered suggestively._

_"*sigh* Now I know I wasn't.." The pup admitted further, head lowered in shame. "And I should.. be more careful next time.. and..ask for help when I need it.. Versus trying to handle it all myself."_

_"I'm proud of you, Chase." Ryder smiled, scratching his pup behind the ear._

_"-you are?" Chase gasped, looking up in astonishment._

_"Of course.. I can tell you didn't really wanna tell me what happened," Ryder said, beginning an approach toward the mess. "And you had the opportunity to lie, but,.. I'm glad you chose not to and told the truth anyway. I know it can be hard sometimes.." The boy went on, turning back toward them. "But I'm proud of you for making the right choice anyway."_

_"Oh yeah.. Right!" Chase realized straightening up, then recoiling at the sting in his foreleg; picking up the paw that only hurt from the scratches left behind by the glass…_

**Hey what's up you guys! This chapter was pretty fun! The memory at the end was the best part for me.. And the most fun to write. Not sure when this story will end, but I know it will be a while before we get there! And with that said.. Hope you enjoy this new part and look forward to reading the next one. Thx!**


	14. Tell Me The Truth

Chapter fourteen: Tell Me The Truth

_Thank goodness there was no glass left behind in that wound._ Ryder thought back again. _Did **not** really wanna rush my young pup to Katie's to have it checked out and possibly remove anything we found._ He thought back now, to how they'd all helped clean up after cleaning and dressing Chase's wound, and then he recalled the moment that he'd never forget about that particular day immediately following the craziness that started it all..

_xxxx_

_"Ahn..!" Chase grimaced, leaning in closer as the clear solution bubbled up over the red slits across the soaked gold and brown fur._

_"Sorry Chase, I bet that stings a lot, huh?" Ryder apologized sensitively. Chase sniffed and looked to be restraining himself, as he stiffly nodded. Finishing the wrapping however, Ryder smiled._

_"I think I have something that might help with that." He said, pulling the pup into a tight embrace, avoiding the wounded leg easily for obvious reasoning._

_"Better?" The boy asked with a gentle sigh._

_"Mhm." Chase nodded slightly, his eyes still closed with a tender smile and a gently wagging tail to show his immediate pleasure by this gesture._

_"Good,.." the boy grinned, releasing him from the hug, meeting his gaze once again. "Now let's go clean up the mess in the basement."_

_"You got it!" Chase barked bounding off toward where Marshall stood inside the elevator; halting just before entering it. "Oh, and maybe **now** I can ask for your help?.. In getting that box down?"_

_"Sure." Ryder shrugged. "Which one?"_

_"The one that has my puppy books in it." Chase answered as the two strolled into the elevator side-by-side. "I wanna show Marshall some of the things **we** used to do together, before **he** showed up."_

_"Sounds like a great idea, Chase." Ryder smiled as the doors closed and they began their descent…_

_xxxx_

Ryder couldn't hold back a light chuckle of remembrance, looking back now he realized how much his brave police pup had grown since then. Yet he could no doubt tell the reasoning for his sudden change in behavior demonstrated this morning especially, and found himself relating to it a little bit. Nonetheless he took up a stuffed animal lying at his feet and prepared to set it on the table, next to the big screen, which suddenly lit up and the screen displayed two faces he hadn't seen for a while.

"Officers Myles and Garcia? What a surprise to see you. What's up? Need some extra paws on a case?" Ryder greeted, waving both hands in the air, level with his face at the last part.

"Actually we're not exactly calling _for_ you." Officer Myles corrected. "We're calling to _warn_ you."

"_Warn_ me?" Ryder echoed curiously becoming concerned. "About what?"

"We've been working through the CorDan case for the past few weeks since Chase and all those pups were successfully rescued from that awful woman's mansion." Chris explained, his expression still remaining very off-looking. "And it appears one is unaccounted for. A Rottweiler by the name of Rex.. we can't seem to find any sign of him anywhere. We're combing through our information and the streets of Barkingburg, but we've had little success in tracking him down. We wanted you to be informed, for the sake of Chase's.. *clears throat* well.. you know."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." Ryder agreed, his head lowering in thought, and a finger touching to his chin. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out in case I see anything."

"Good idea, but.. maybe just.. don't tell Chase about this.." Ryan advised awkwardly. "I mean.. you of all of us know his issues with the whole thing.."

"Yeah.. I guess I do.." Ryder supposed, thinking some more on this. "I'll try not to say anything to him. And.. maybe the other pups too, unless it's important for them to know."

"Sounds good. Thanks, Ryder." Chris thanked him brightly, an ease coming about him to relinquish the initial disturbed demeanor that had no doubt been there from the start of the call. "We'll keep you posted if we hear anything. And anything we may find too; we're gonna try our best to get to the bottom of this.. especially if it's Chase's piece of mind and peace of thought that's at stake."

"Great. Thanks so much guys. Keep up the good work." Ryder said, giving them a proud thumbs up. Nodding with honest smiles of their own the call dropped, and Ryder sighed heavily as he sat down to think on this subject some more..

_XXXX_

Chase strode out of the Lookout, the doors parting right in front of him. But looking up at the sound of opening doors he jumped to the side to hide behind the frame of the door.

"Afternoon everyone." Frank beckoned as the Prescotts and their pawed companions filed from their SUV.

"Frank! Maggie!" The pups cried, racing up to them. "Billy!"

"Well, hello to you too, PAW Patrol pups." Frank beamed lowering himself slightly with a beaming grin showing across his face.

"Hey Chess! We're planning on going swimming at the beach today.. wanna come?" Rocky asked.

"Sure.." the older German Shepherd replied brightly. "After we check on Chase. Where is he anyway?" And the pups all peered around.

"He's probably still in the Lookout." Marshall guessed. "I'll go get him for you."

At hearing this, the pup in question took off across the Lookout floor and disappeared from sight as soon as the Dalmatian entered.

"Chase?.. where are you?" The pup called, looking around then advancing forward slowly. "The Prescotts are here.. Chase?"

_Clunk!_ "Ouch." Marshall's focus shot to his left, as a brown shape rose up out of a pile of blankets and pillows collected under a table.

"Chase, what're you doing?" Marshall wondered, coming over to him. "They're here to see you mostly. Why are you hiding?"

"Uhh..hiding?" Chase echoed, as a small pillow slid off his head. "Nah.. I was just.. uh.. coming to see them and I.. slid into this pile of pillows.. Yeah. Hit my head on the leg of the chair-I mean table- trying to get out again." Marshall stared unconvinced, but Chase's gaze remained serious enough to finally seem to convince him.

"*sigh* ok.." He sighed finally. "If you say so. Now come on.." He said, turning to leave again. "Let's go out and see them then." And the two pups bounded off together.

_xxxx_

"Here he is guys." Marshall announced, immediately earning their gaze as they came running out, Chase halting just outside the sliding doors. Everyone's eyes set on Chase now, Marshall's adding to the mix when he made it to where the rest of the team stood with the Prescotts. Sheepish and silent as ever the German Shepherd's gaze wandered to the floor away from them. His will forcing him to walk forward toward them, lunging himself to run into Billy's outstretched arms.

"We're glad you're safe, little C." Billy beamed holding the pup close.

"Me too." Chase breathed, slowly bracing his paws to the man's chest to look at him. "I'm sorry for running off like that.. 'kinda wishing I hadn't done it in the first place."

"Well we're glad you're fine now." Billy reiterated, using his big hand to ruffle the top of Chase's head lovingly.

"Well.. mostly fine." Maggie hunted caressing her fingers to the white on his neck. "What's this about, Chase?"

"Nothing for you to worry about." Chase replied quickly, his gaze dropping away again. "It's already taken care of."

"Then you should have no trouble telling us what happened." Frank insisted, setting his cane in front of him to place both hands on top of it. Chase froze his gaze up at them, then dropped it to the floor in front of him. Chester eyed him thoughtfully.

"Mind if I take a crack at something?" The pup asked, glancing up at Frank hopefully.

"Be my guest." Frank confirmed with a tender, yet subtle nod. Chester advanced slowly toward his brother rather confidently, and the pup looked up when registering movement toward him.

"Come on." Chester beckoned softly taking off past him. Chase stepped one paw over to crane his neck around, before racing after his brother into the Lookout.

Leading him behind the elevator and peering around to where the team stood waiting, Chester turned back around where they couldn't see them to look at Chase; sitting in front of him with his gaze down away from him and his paw up to his shoulder to softly rub the bandage on his neck for comfort.

"Chase, what's the matter here bro? You know we're all family here." Chess began slowly. "Why do you insist on keeping us in the dark?"

"They wouldn't understand." Chase mumbled quietly, keeping his gaze on the floor still.

"Oh come on, how likely am I to believe that?" Chester returned easily. "I know you too well to think that you _really_ believe that."

"We haven't seen each other in years." Chase shot back a bit harshly, finally daring himself to look up at Chester. "Things have changed since then."

"_Some_ things." Chester corrected. "But not something like this.. I know you better than that." Chase's gaze had already dropped, but this time he strongly resisted the urge to look up again. Even losing this battle slightly, as his eyes tracked over to him then back down again, silence remaining between them.

"I may not have seen you since we were much younger.. but there are some things about you, that won't ever change." Chester continued with a tone of certainty. "I know there's something more to this.. I can feel it. I'm a police pup too, you know.. just like you. I can sense things that others may not. And especially when it comes to you.. I know when something is off."

"Uohh, why do you have to be so good!" Chase complained, groaning into this response when lifting his hard gaze up to him, though his tone suggested the lingering of slight humor. His frown softening up to a gloomy face. "Thank you."

Chester just smiled knowingly. "What are you afraid of, little bro?" He asked in calm soft tones.

"Honestly.." The pup answered slowly, peering up at Chester once again. "That they'll be mad when they hear about what happened to me last night." He finished lowering his gaze again.

"Oh come on, Chase. I'm _sure_ they won't be mad." Chester reassured him, scooching in next to him. "They were just worried about you when you didn't come home last night. I bet they won't be as mad as you think."

"Come on, Chess, you know them better than that." Chase declined, making no attempt to escape the weight of his brother leaning onto his back and good shoulder. "Remember our adventure to the meadows outside town, back at our old home? We didn't even go that far away and they got so mad that we wandered off. Especially Billy, when he had to climb a tree to get me down."

"Yeah,.. but that was _all_ you." Chester joked lightly with a soft chuckle. "And they weren't _that_ mad."

"Probably cause you didn't get the _talking to_." Chase returned dryly.

"Hey, hey, hey, hold up." Chester stopped him, shifting around to place a paw to his brother's chest. "I got just as much of a _'talking to'_ as you did." He lowered his paw then continued. "I just didn't take it as personally as you did. What you have to realize is that they love you very, _very_ much. Like.. a million times one, a lot. They only want to make sure you stay safe. You weren't as experienced back then as you are now, and so _of course_ they were hard on you that day. They were probably even harder on _me_ for letting you do it…" Chase's glance furrowed his brow, and Chester's expression softened with a sigh. "Look, what I'm trying to say.. is that you're trying too hard to make them trust you.. when they already do. Just tell 'em what happened.. I'm sure they won't react as badly as you think." At this the younger pup's gaze lifted.. searching the air thoughtfully before meeting Chester's duplicate brown eyes.

_xxxx_

The team waited in silence.. all thinking their own thoughts when the Lookout doors slid open to gain their attention. Chester stood there quietly acknowledging them with only his stoic brown eyes.

"Just.. go easy on him, ok?" He said simply, strolling forward from the door to be replaced by his younger self, a sheepish look upon Chase's face.

"I'm ready.." The pup mumbled softly. "To explain what happened." He finished with his gaze hitting the ground directly below him.

**Hey guys! Finally another chapter! I do enjoy writing the brotherly moments between Chase and Chester. Hope you guys enjoy them as much as I do writing them. As always, more is yet to come.. And I can't wait to see what you guys think of it! Thx!**


	15. Heads Up!

Chapter fifteen: Heads Up!

Chase kept silent when finishing. His anxiety of their reaction churning within him, yet he refused to let himself show it. As he sat there quietly waiting, he watched their faces as the thoughtful family that stood across from him pondered their words carefully for their formulating response.

"So.. all _that_ happened last night?" Mariana spoke up finally, her demeanor unreadable at the moment.

And Chase just nodded sheepishly, his eyes wandering down away from them.

"Well.. I can't say we're _happy_ about all that.." Frank mentioned loosely, sighing. "But I _am_ glad that you fessed up anyway."

"Yeah.. you've really grown up little brother." Chester smiled, coming up to nudge Chase's good shoulder easily. "Ryder must've trained you well."

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Big C." Billy grinned. "Come here you two." He added, opening his arms for the two pups to climb onto his lap for a hug.

"Now then.." the man spoke up again as their embrace ended. "Who's ready for the beach!?"

"Us!" Both German Shepherd pups announced.

"Come on, Chess!" Chase called, taking off from Billy's lap, Chester not far behind. "I'll give you a ride in my truck. Betcha we can beat them there."

"'Bet you'll be too slow." Chester joked, as their voices faded away beyond recognition, Billy rising as soon as they'd left.

"It's amazing how freeing the truth can be." Frank mentioned. "You could hardly tell anything had happened just a few moments ago."

"Yeah.. but he still seems a little off to me.." Billy noted, a hint of suspicion hanging onto his tone.. and expression.

"He's probably just still working through his injury." Maggie's guessed. "And coping with his experiences while at Mrs. CorDan's mansion. I can't imagine he's not still struggling with that."

"Yeah.. maybe." The man thought, still staring after the two brothers clambering up into the blue police vehicle.

"Don't worry, Bill." Marcus reassured him, with a hand on the shoulder turned toward them. "If he needs you.. you'll know beyond a shadow of a doubt, he'll come to ya for that."

"Yeah.." Billy trailed once again. "..I guess so."

_XXXX_

Dust flew as it was upset by padding paws. The two fastest pups soon screeched to a halt.

"First!" The two German Shepherd pups shouted.

"What?! No way! I was a nose ahead of you!" Chester complained.

"No.. I was a neck ahead of _you_." Chase returned obviously in a playful protest amongst the two.

"Or not! I think we should rematch. Prove for _sure_ who's faster." Chester countered.

"Alright you two, chill out." Marcus interjected, easily. "Remember we're trying to _fix_ Chase, not _break_ him all over again."

"*sigh* we know." The two German Shepherds sighed.

"Come on, guys, I'm not _that_ easy to break." Chase sighed. But only moments later, he jumped at something dashing the sand next to him.

"Oops.." Said a voice, bringing their gaze up from the frisbee that lay next to the pup, to the boy racing toward him to get it.

"Alex?" Chase asked.

"Hi." The boy waved, now holding the frisbee in front of him with the other hand.

"Oh, hi, Chase!" The perky border collie accompanying him said.

"Skyler? What'ch you guys doing here?" Chase wondered, obviously happy to see them.

"Same as you,.." Sklyer replied easily. "Enjoying the amazing weather. Water's great, but I prefer the rush of running across the sand the most."

"Ha! Me too." Chase chuckled. And the two pups giggled together.

"So what'ch _you_ doing here?" Sklyer asked. "How's the recovery going?"

"Ok I guess." Chase shrugged. "Kinda over all this.. _cautious_.. Training."

"Well, you can't get back on your feet without being just a _little_ bit careful, right?" The sheepdog reasoned, seeming unaware of the genius behind her remark. "At least it means someone cares about you."

"All too much, more like." Chase answered dryly, subtly peeking back at the group of his friends and family, and then at Chester.

"Hey, I'm on _your_ side." Chess responded quickly, in a way of surrender.

"Right." Chase sighed, sarcastically rolling his eyes, even though a smile still lingered. "Well anyway,.. Enjoy your beach day, Sky." He finished, looking to the border collie.

"Thanks.. You too." Skyler replied brightly, then she and Alex took off across the sandy floor.

"Ok Chase, ready to get started." Marcus wondered as he, Daniel, Billy and Ryder came up to them, Ryder and Billy holding Zoom-it frisbees in hand.

"Thought you'd never ask!" Chase sighed finally, taking off across the sand and sitting down where he stopped, facing them patiently.

"Alright,.." Marcus smiled, straightening up to spin a Zoom-It on his finger. "Then let's get started." He decided, smoothly taking it in the same hand and sending it flying right towards Chase, who caught it easily and tossed it aside.

"Come on,.. show me whatcha _really_ got!" Chase demanded proudly, a smirk on his face as he crouched down in a ready stance.

"Ok.. let's see what _you_ can do." Daniel smiled.

_xxxx_

Simple tosses with easy catches became more difficult as he seemed to able to handle it better,..

"Alright, here comes a harder one,.." Marcus called, readying the Zoom-it in his hand. Letting it catch the air with his throw, Chase watched it weave back and forth as it came closer to him a fair distance from them. And in seeing it's path in his mind's eye, he slowly stepped back in preparation to jump up and catch in a backflip to land him firmly on the ground; only slightly off balance in his landing.

"Alright, dude!" Zuma barked. "You did it!"

"Of course I did." Chase grinned. "That was _too_ easy.. When are we gonna _actually_ get back into something more challenging."

"Alright,.. You got me.." Marcus sighed, holding a bright red Zoom-it up in his hand; earning concerned glances from those around him. "We'll see how you handle this next one… and then we'll talk."

"Ok.." Chase sighed, his gaze wandering up over his head, then down his other side. Marcus' finger curled toward him, signaling Chase to follow. And the pup shadowed him out a ways from the group until Marcus halted and held a finger out to him to stay put. Then turning back, he walked back to where the team stood and turned around so that they were all behind him,.. and Chase was far out in front of him.

"You sure you're ready for this?" Marcus asked one last time, when standing ready to launch the Zoom-it from his right hand. And Chase just nodded. Marcus obliged with a throw that was hard and high. A bit of a shock came at this realization, but he raced forward anyway, to which he timed himself right enough to catch it head on, but landed hard on his paws and tumbled over his wounded shoulder.

"Chase!" Marshall gasped.

"Dude, what're you thinking?!" Daniel hissed to his brother.

"He's gotta learn somehow,.." Marcus murmured gently back, watching Chase immediately stir where he'd landed. "Why do you think I didn't go any harder on him? He won't know he's going too far, until he feels it for himself. That's how he's built, remember?" Then with that he strode forward, with Daniel not far behind.

Chase grunted as he picked himself up off the ground again, and shook the sand from his coat.

"Ugh,.." he groaned to himself, even with the coming footsteps beyond him.

"You ok, dude?" Zuma wondered, when arriving at his side.

"Yeah,.. I'll be fine." The German Shepherd sighed.

"What exactly happened there do you think, Chase?" Marcus quizzed tenderly.

"*sigh* I know I know,.. I'm not ready for that yet.." Chase sighed, as if reading his mind. And an exchanged look from Marcus to Daniel nodded their understanding of this reasonable question.

"Hey,.. listen, Chase,.." Marcus began again, coming to sit down next to the pup, with Daniel taking one at his other side. "We don't wanna discourage you,.. but you really _are_ progressing.."

"Maybe not as quickly as you'd hoped,.." Daniel reasoned, with a light shrug. "But we're still making progress."

"We just gotta keep working at it, is all, ok?" Billy added, kneeling down to place a hand on Chase's shoulder softly. And at this, the pup just lifted his gaze to reluctantly nod.

"Ok then.." Billy nodded, with his trademark smile. Standing up, he turned to the rest of the group.

"Let's take a break,.." He decided. "Can't push too hard you know."

"Good idea.." Maggie agreed. "And in the meantime…" her words trailed off with the slow shake of the frigid item she held up in her hand.

"Aw man!" Chase groaned.

"Oh-.. Now Chase.."

"I know.." The young German Shepherd sighed to cut Frank's sentence short. "Gotta be done.."

"That's right." The old man nodded, certainly.

_XXXX_

"Ahn..ugh.." shifting positions was a struggle with the icy bulge strapped to his shoulder and it annoyed him quite plainly.

_Someday this'll be over._ He told himself dryly, thankful no one could hear his thoughts.

"Don't worry, this'll be over someday." And Chase's head shot up to stare at Billy with shocked eyes.

"How did you know what I was thinking?!" The pup gasped, dumbfounded at how accurate his response was.

"Heh..e..um..well.. it wasn't really that hard." Billy snickered lightly. "It shows across your face.. still pretty obvious in that area, I guess."

"Ugh.. of course." The pup cursed softly.

"It's still true, ya know.." Billy mentioned, bringing the pup's focus back up to him. A crooked smile bending one side of his lips up, to give off the tender expression of love completely. "You know it's only a matter of time before you'll be back on your feet as long as you stay focused."

"Yeah.. I know.." Chase sighed.

"And I think you believe it up here.." Billy went on, pointing to his head. "But now you need to start believing it.. in _here_.." And at this, he pointed to Chase's chest with his thick, sturdy pointer finger, then rose to wander off and let that thought sink in.. to which it succeeded as Chase began to think again.

_xxxx_

"Hey Chase! Come catch the frisbee with us!" Alex called eventually, pulling the pup from his thoughts as the boy wandered back over to him.

"Um, I don't know, guys.." Chase wavered a bit, his gaze rising, then falling to his left. "I'm not supposed to overdo it."

"Oh come on, Chase." The boy coaxed, with begging blue eyes. "_Please?_" Chase hesitated and began to wonder again.

"Well.. as long as it's not too hard.. ok." Chase gave in finally.

"Yay!" Alex cheered, leaping excitedly.

"But make it an easy one.." Chase followed up again, as he rose from where he lay. "I _can't_ get hurt again. Chester and Billy'll kill me if something goes wrong."

_They **all** would._ He thought to himself.

"Ok.. I'll try!" The boy said, as Chase tried and somehow succeeded in removing the ice pack from his shoulder. Strolling out a ways, the boy took up his other frisbee while facing him.

"Ready?" He asked, holding a red one up.

"Ready!" Chase called, crouching down a bit to show he was.

Alex threw it hard and Chase took off after it when it sailed over him.

"I'll send this one over a _different_ way for you, Skyler." The boy said, preparing a blue one to throw.

"Alright, I'm on it!" The Border Collie smiled, her tail wagging vigorously. But unbeknownst to him, the footsteps behind him were approaching for a purpose.

"Alex?" The boy's throw released awkwardly and he turned around, as Skyler took off running.

"Where's Chase?" Billy wondered. "He was just here.." Looking down, the man found the ice pack laying on the sand.

"Oh, um…" the boy began, looking up and back around behind himself again.

_xxxx_

_I've almost got it!_ Chase thought excitedly. Skyler smiled, catching a glimpse of him ahead of her through her peripheral vision. But as she jumped up to reach the blue Zoom-It, she realized its curved trajectory and anticipated her failure to catch it. But an even more horrible realization came, when she hit the ground again.

_Oh no!_

"Chase!"

At this moment the rest of the group had arrived by Billy, as Chase went up to catch the red Zoom-It.

"No!" Skyler screeched. But the blue Zoom-It zapped right into Chase's shoulder and they could hear him grimace, as he dropped the red Zoom-It mid-flight and tumbled across the sand for a short ways.

As soon as Chase hit the ground, though, Mariana and Chester had taken off, easily followed by those among them.

**Hey guys I _FINALLY_ back! Yes I know it's been forever, but hey.. I hope it was worth it! Fingers crossed.. I'll try to do better with this but again, unfortunately, with my schedule.. no promises.. anyway though, this chapter was fun especially since that end scene I've had on my mind for a while. Figuring out the best way to orchestrate it was the biggest challenge, I think. But anyway. ;D**

**Enjoy this next chapter and I'll see you next time! Thx!**


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